Waikouaiti Museum Society committee member Bill Lang holds
the corroded remains of a Tranter 450 calibre 6-shot
revolver found in Otago, believed one of only two remaining
in the world. Photo by Linda Robertson.
A "metal bar" protruding from a mound of dirt in the back
yard of Dee Carmichael's Waikouaiti house looked banal enough
for several months, until she decided to level the pile.
"I tried to pull it out of the ground and noticed it was more
than just a metal bar. It was a gun."
But it wasn't just any old gun.
It is believed to be a Tranter 450 calibre 6-shot double
action centre-fire army revolver, one of only two known
examples of the gun left in the world.
Mrs Carmichael said she, her husband and their two children
moved to the Waikouaiti Palmerston Rd property two years ago
from Stirling, Scotland, and had since been trying to do up
the property.
The barrel of the gun was unearthed last year, but because of
the family's busy lifestyle, it remained "a metal bar
sticking out of a pile of dirt" for about four months, Mrs
Carmichael said.
"With two dogs, three ponies, two kids and Granny living with
us, developing the property is taking time."
So the gun was not officially discovered until December last
year, when Mrs Carmichael pulled it from the dirt.
Firearm historian Grant Sheriff, of Dunedin, said the gun was
manufactured in England in 1880 or 1881.
Originally, it was nickel-plated with a walnut wood butt
stock.
"Only one other example of this model with lanyard ring and
six-inch barrel has been positively recorded," he said.
The Waikouaiti revolver is now on display in the Waikouaiti
Museum.
Waikouaiti Museum Society committee member Bill Lang said the
gun's history of owners and purpose was unknown.
However, he believed it may have been buried in the
Carmichaels' garden in 1922 as a result of a change in
government legislation.
"Pistols were quite common in New Zealand households.
"Most families had guns. But, in 1922, the government changed
legislation and the public weren't allowed to own pistols any
more.
"So people either handed them in to the police or buried them
in their back yards."
The revolver will be featured in the museum as part of
tomorrow's Taieri Rotary Club's Historic Homes of the
Coastline fundraising open day.
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