An English brass snaphance self-rotating revolver by Annely, ca.1730 (Royal Armouries object number xii.4745)

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This article seeks to draw attention to a noteworthy early ‘self-rotating’ revolver in the Royal Armouries collection previously dated circa 1700. Taking the form of an object biography of sorts, it describes and illustrates the Annely form of this type, comparing and contrasting it with known counterparts including the likely progenitor of the type; the ‘Dafte’ revolver (also within the Armouries’ collection). It places the piece in technological and stylistic terms to about 1680 ‘Dafte’ example also in the RA collection and other important early revolver designs such as the Collier and the successful Colt. A revised date of about 1730 is proposed. Finally, although the ‘throughline’ from seventeenth and eighteenth century designs to Collier and Colt is far from clear, the article seeks to establish the significance of the piece as one of several ‘false starts’ made in the quest for practical, one-handed firepower.