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LOT 165
Incredibly Rare and Exceptional U.S. Navy “No. 2” Marked Maxim- Nordenfelt 5-Barrel Volley “Machine” Gun in 7mm Mauser with Navy Mount - Serial no. 1483, 7 mm Mauser , 28 1/2 inch part hexagon bbl., blue/ bright finish. This is a highly desirable example of an incredibly rare U.S. Navy marked 5-barrel Maxim-Nordenfelt crank handle volley gun in 7mm Mauser, manufactured in 1898. The Nordenfelt gun was reportedly originally designed at the end of the 1860s by Helge Palmcrantz (July 7, 1842-November 22,
1880), a Swedish inventor, and subsequently financially backed in the early 1870s by Thorsten Nordenfelt (March 1, 1842-February 8, 1920), a Swedish
steel producer and banker operating out of London, as a multi-barreled,
volley firing weapon. Both of the aforementioned names have British patents relating to the designs of the gun, ammunition and carriage. The gun was officially named the “Nordenfelt machine gun” with the Nordenfelt Guns and Ammunition Company operating with sales offices in London and a plant set up in England. These guns were made in anywhere between single, 2, 3, 5, 6, 10 and 12-barrel configurations and offered in a variety of calibers. An early variant of the gun was demonstrated to the Swedish Defense Minister in 1868, and
it was subsequently bought into the Swedish Army. During a demonstration at Portsmouth naval base in England, a 10-barrel Nordenfelt reportedly fired 3,000 rounds in 3 minutes and 3 seconds without any stoppages, which was a very respectable feat for the time. The British Royal Navy officially adopted the Nordenfelt in addition to their Gardner and Gatling guns then in use. The Nordenfelt gun was eventually overshadowed by the Maxim machine gun
as designed by Sir Hiram Maxim. Thorsten Nordenfelt eventually merged operations with the Maxim Gun Company to officially become Maxim- Nordenfelt Guns and Ammunition Company Limited in 1888. Shortly after, Thorsten Nordenfelt suffered a personal bankruptcy and was forced out of the Maxim-Nordenfelt company in 1890. Although a few examples are known in prominent museums, Nordenfelt guns never gained widespread success, and any surviving example today is considered extremely rare and desirable as an evolutionary piece in the story of “machine gun” development.
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