From our July/August 2025 Issue
Rich collectors are hoovering up luxury “one off” shotguns. From the long-established Holland & Holland “Products of Excellence” to the relatively recent Krieghoff “Gun of the Year” series, unique-yet-functional firearms with added aesthetic touches are playing an ever-bigger part in European gunmakers‘ marketing strategies. In recent years Beretta has created more unique shotguns than most, including a Model 486 celebrating the achievements of Nicolaus Copernicus, an SL3 commemorating the 100th anniversary of the discovery of Tutankhamun‘s tomb and a pair of SO10s paying tribute to Rome, Florence and Venice.
Beretta‘s latest confection is a 12-gauge SO6 EELL marking the 700th year since Marco Polo‘s passing in Venice. The platform for this singular exercise is the Sparviere, an over/under with sidelocks that spring open like a falcon‘s wings. (“Sparviero” means “sparrowhawk” in Italian.) The pinless lockplates have provided ample canvases for the lavish engraving.
The left lock features a scene of Marco Polo embarking from his hometown of Venice, while the right suggests his journey along the Silk Road and his encounter with the Mongol Emperor Kublai Khan. The action body is engraved on. The theme of medieval nautical charts, with compass roses and wind-rose lines, while the toplever is pierced and carved to form the head of Marco Polo‘s Argali (Ovis ammon) as described in Il Milone, Rustichello da Pisa‘s book describing Marco Polo‘s travels. On the underside of the action, a commemorative copper medallion chased with Marco Polo‘s profile rounds out the celebration of the explorer's life.
Complementing this unique shotgun is a sumptuous display case handcrafted by the Venetian furniture atelier Arte Veneziana, famous for its glass. The etched doors of the extraordinary vitrine show scenes from Il Milone, depicting Marco Polo‘s departure from the quay at San Marcos Square and can be opened electromechanically. The package is completed with a carrying case covered with bright-yellow leather embellished with a map of Europe, Asia and Africa—the known world at Marco Polo‘s time—and lined with red Venetian silk.
The nature of one-of-a-kind shotguns and their presentations may have changed over time, but our fascination with them has not. This special gun may have the traditional two barrels, but it is a one-shot deal.
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