Engraved - Forgotten Weapons

Model 1875 Officer’s Pattern: The Finest Trapdoor Springfield

April 19, 2025 Ian McCollum 15

As the main national armory, Springfield got a number of requests to make specialty rifles for commissioned officers and important dignitaries each year. These were essentially all custom sporting rifles, and the orders were duly […]

The 1950 Marketing Contest to Name the S&W Chiefs Special

January 19, 2024 Ian McCollum 2

Today we’re taking a look at a Smith & Wesson Chiefs Special, but not just any Chiefs Special. This is serial number 29, factory engraved and gifted to Chief Edward Book of Passaic New Jersey […]

FN’s Millionth Pistol: Presented to John Browning; Saved by a Belgian Cop

November 28, 2022 Ian McCollum 25

Fabrique Nationale was formed as a consortium of small gunmakers to produce Mauser rifles for the Belgian Army, and when that work was complete the company basically had nothing else to do…until they met John […]

Personalized 1911s from the WW1 American Expedition to Siberia

September 13, 2021 Ian McCollum 23

At the end of the Great War, the United States sent several thousand soldiers to eastern Siberia, to protect war supplies from the Red Russian forces and to help rescue the Czechoslovak Legion. Also known […]

Salvatore Mazza Gold-Inlaid Percussion Collier Revolver

May 12, 2021 Ian McCollum 6

Before Samuel Colt popularized the mechanical connection between the revolver hammer and cylinder, the revolvers being made were manually operated. This example is a copy of a third type Collier (that is to say, a […]

Göring’s Platinum Lugers

March 5, 2021 Ian McCollum 28

There are a lot of guns out there attributed to German leaders and politicians of the Second World War. Many of these are completely specious, and many more are true simply because these men had […]

Napoleonic Sphinxes: A Magnificent Boutet Carved Pistol Set

September 10, 2020 Ian McCollum 5

Lot 252 in the September 2020 Premier RIA auction. Nicolaus-Noël Boutet is one of the most significant gunsmith artists in the world. He was the “directeur-artiste” of the Manufacture d’Armes de Versailles, set up in […]

Pistols for Royalty: the Mannlicher 1900 Standard and Magnificently Engraved

July 20, 2020 Ian McCollum 16

The model 1900 was a transitional pattern of Mannlicher pistol, intended to be an improvement over the somewhat clumsy and underpowered Mannlicher 1896. Only about 250 of them were made, with an eye towards military […]

Walther Q5 “Arabesque”: Art in the Form of a Match Pistol

June 12, 2020 Ian McCollum 16

Engraved pistols are not just the domain of antiques; they are being made right now, on the most modern platforms. This is the “Arabesque”, a project between Walther and Bottega Incisioni Giovanelli. The base gun […]