Without doubt this is one of our most exciting curiosities - the famed holy water pistol - with its enduring links to the Order of Jesuits. The pistol is one of several unusual objects that came into our possession during the mass confusion that surrounded the fall of the Russian empire in 1917, and yet the pistols traceable history retreats even further back in time. 

The pistol had in fact been first uncovered almost 20 years before this by the St Petersburg police in 1891, hidden amongst the possessions of an unidentified corpse.  The circumstances surrounding the corpses passing remain a mystery but the holy water ampoules that accompanied the pistol did carry the seal of the Jesuit Order. The pistol was then kept deep within the storage vaults of the St Petersburg police until the year 1919, when its existence was first brought to our attention. 

Holy water pistols of this kind where made during the years 1860-64 by the Hungarian brothers Josef and Franz Werdel in cooperation with the French weapon manufacture St: Ethienne. Very few copies of the pistol was made, and it was never sold on the open market, but despite this, the profit of this commission was enough for the brothers to be able to start their own weapons manufactory, Josef & Franz Werndl & Comp. Waffenfabrik und Sagermuhle in Oberletten.

 The pistol is a modified American revolver, that, with technology from the French St: Etienne-Giffard pistol was converted to a kind of water pistol. The weapon is loaded by attaching a small ampoule of holy water to the top of the pistol. The weapon is capable to fire a short burst of water with great precision up to 50 ft.

 After lengthy negotiation we successfully purchased the pistol late in the year 1919.  Since then representatives from different organisations within the Catholic Church have on many occasions attempted to persuade us to return the weapon to them. Despite this, we have under no circumstance any intention of disposing of any part of our collection.

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