I enjoy GUNS (and knives too) - using them and working on them - maybe I'm a sick unit, but - like the Government Military, Police, and the autonamous civil wild harvesters & pest controllers, - I understand and value these tools - their utility, beauty and craftmanship.
Currently I'm a bit focused on old English made revolvers and pocket pistols. I have some quality items from Birmingham, and plenty of crap. - Some folk will say that I am crazy-stupid to waste money on antique obsolete sidearms.They may well be right .. But I have only a few months revenue worth of cash dollars in the bank earning at 1.5% interest, - while NZ inflation is running at 3%+ - that means my "savings" are losing value steadily while antique guns are happily rising in value and could also be employed for the same purpose that they had when made 170+ years ago.
If I were a rich man, Ya ba dibba dibba dibba dibba dibba dibba dum. If indeed I was rich - with an investment portfolio - I would have been buying gold coin for the last several years as the metal's price rose through US$2,000 per ounce and up on it's way skyward towards ever greater heights .. It's not that the gold price has truly DOUBLED - but that your dollars have halved in value under our banker's careful direction.
- but antique guns will have to suffice..jpg)
This, - my latest - 1860ish double action 5 shot Tranter 4th Model percussion revolver has Colonial Government service history, as demonstrated by the Taranaki Provincial Government Colonial Storekeepers issue number 331 stamped on the barrel and grip (see images). It is hard to come across revolvers with provenance from the Maori Wars, as many were private purchases. Without documentation they remain, just possibly used during the Wars. This service revolver is not in that category. When these wars ended in 1872 cartridge revolvers were becoming available.
The conflict in Taranaki resulted in the passing of the Colonial Defence Act on the 15th of September 1862, and the formation of the Colonial Defence Force, the first regular force in New Zealand, with detachments throughout the country.
The non-Māori, Pakeha population is said to have exceeded that of Māori for the first time in 1858.
Tranter 4th Model double action 54 bore Percussion Revolver, 5 3/4in barrel. Top strap engraved “J. PURDEY, OXFORD STREET, LONDON”. Frame No. 14132 T. Oval Cartouche on Frame and loading lever – Store keepers No 331 on barrel and wooden butt. Dated to around 1855/56. The 4th Model Tranter was not a common revolver in New Zealand service, with the Adams being more frequently encountered . It is a early 4th Model with the early safety catch, on the right side of the frame in the form of a flat hook which when pushed forward engages in a hole drilled in each nipple divider . it also has the early “S” – shaped cylinder spring arbor – catch. A quality Purdey issue revolver is unusual. - This is a five shot .442 inch caliber percussion revolver retaining some original finish - fully operational, but the foresight has some damage.
So it has HISTORIC NZ PROVENANCE plus the 'PURDEY' name.Are You Fit and Proper?
Are NZ Police 'FIT AND PROPER PERSONS'?
yeah naah
In The Interest of PUBLIC SAFETY ..
FIREARMS LICENCES FOR NZ POLICE.
Marty K.








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