Orville Percival and Aza Smith designed an unusual pistol design in the mid-19th century that utilized two drums to hold the balls, powder, and primers. The latter were contained within a tube in the rear drum. Very few of the pistols are believed to have been manufactured by Horace Smith prior to his association with Daniel Wesson. Rotating the drums upwards reloads the pistol. It is not clear if these pistols were actually safe to fire. It is hard to imagine they were given that if gas leaked back into the rear cylinder it could cause the pistol to explode. Nonetheless, these were innovative firearms for their day and very scarce pieces of firearms curiosa. This pistol is marked "ORVILLE PERCIVAL/INVENTOR/MOODUS CONN. 1840." Unlike some more refined later Percival-Smith pistols, this one does not have vent holes along the rotating collar nor vents on the cap for the ball drum. The barrel design is also different. The left side of the action has a "610_262H" collection marking.

Fine as custom made with 75% refinished bright blue finish remaining on the hammer, trigger, and trigger guard. The barrel is a mix of faded blue finish and patina. The brass components have a stripped appearance of mixed bright and aged tones. The grips are very fine and have an attractive figure and minor scratches and dings. Appears to be mechanically fine.