This is a example of an extremely rare early prototype Austro-Hungarian "Krnka" double action semi-automatic pistol. These pistols were developed by Karel Krnka a Czechoslovakian engineer and promoted/sold by the Roth company circa 1895. There are only a handful of these exceptionally rare pistols known in the world with this one, number "7" probably one of the earliest known examples. It had some very unique features for the late 1800s, such as; an internal magazine located inside the grip, that loaded from the top via stripper clips, has both a double and single action mode of firing with an exposed hammer and it has a sliding barrel with a rotating bolt with front locking lugs. While this last feature seems common today, very few pistols have ever used this feature with most of its application being used on semi-automatic rifles. Each one of these rare pistols, has some slightly different features as they were constantly being improved/modified as they were being built, on a prototype basis. They have a 6 inch rotating barrel and bolt assembly inside the upper portion of the frame. Includes a custom wood case, fitted for the pistol, along with a stripper clip and 10 rounds, a screwdriver, cleaning rod and key.

Very fine as professionally restored with most of the finish remaining. The grips are fine as restored with crisp checking. Mechanically excellent. A very rare early, semi-automatic test pistol serial number "7"!