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LOT 3374
Historic, Documented, Engraved and Inscribed, “Ferdinand Maximilian von Oesterriech” Superposed Barrel 18-Shot Double Action Pinfire Revolver with Mexican Imperial Eagle Medal - Serial no. 1476, 9 mm
cal., 6 1/4 inch round bbl., blue finish, relief carved hardwood grips. The very interesting revolver and the pendant are pictured in the article “Death on
the Hill of the Bells” by Lee A. Silva in the January 1988 issue of “The Gun Report.”The revolver is identified as having belonged to Emperor Maximilian
I of Mexico. A copy of the article is included. The article indicates the revolver was formerly in The Harry Mann Collection and “unsubstantiated verbal provenance indicated is that it originally turned up in Mexico and was, in
fact, part of Maximilian’s private arms locker.” Also included is a copy of the “American Society of Mexico Bulletin” from February 1958 which includes
a long article on Tom Weston and his gun shop. The article notes: “Once he missed, by a hair’s breadth, becoming the owner of an 18-shot revolver which
had been made especially for Emperor Maximilian.”
The inscription on the barrel would have been appropriate for Maximilian
I while he was serving in the Austrian Navy prior to leaving for his fateful “adventure” in Mexico. He was an Austrian Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian Joseph Maria von Hapsburg-Lothringen (1832-1867) and one of Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria’s younger brothers. He was installed as Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico during the Second French Intervention in Mexico
in 1864 by Napoleon III. In order to do so, he had to formally renounce his rights to the Austrian throne and as an archduke of Austria. He had previously turned down invitations from Mexican monarchists to take the throne and was serving in the Austrian Navy. Though he upheld many of the liberal reforms, his reign was understandably controversial and opposed from the outset by Mexican liberals led by President Benito Juarez. With the end of the American Civil War, the United States under President Johnson supported Juarez and opposed Maximilian under the Monroe Doctrine.
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