POTD: Cabot Moonshot 1911 Pistol

Today is the National Moon Day! 53 years ago, on July 20, 1969, the Lunar Module Eagle of Apollo 11 spaceflight landed on the surface of Earth’s only natural satellite. A little over six hours after the landing (which was already July 21st UTC), Neil Armstrong, the commander of Apollo 11, stepped on the surface of the Moon. Indeed, it was one small step for a man but one giant leap for mankind. In today’s Photo Of The Day, we are taking a look at the Cabot Moonshot 1911, a custom pistol dedicated to this important event in the history of the human race.

This natural successor to Cabot’s stunning meteorite pistols – The Big Bang Set – was crafted using lunar meteorite material and features a detailed depiction of the so-called Christmas Star—the great conjunction (alignment) of Jupiter and Saturn that occurred December 21, 2020. Moonshot’s slide is finished with colored enamel that depicts Jupiter and Saturn next to each other as they appeared on that night.

A dynamic view of our solar system—from the perspective of the lunar surface—is captured by the painstaking placement of lunar meteorite, small diamonds, rubies, sapphires, and gold inlay. These and other precious materials fire the imagination as they portray planets and stars racing along their celestial paths. The space-black slide provides the perfect backdrop for planetary orbits, shooting stars, and meteorites, rendered by Lee Griffiths’ expert touch. The astronauts and Apollo lunar module featured on the grips were cut out of steel plates, sculpted, and then carefully welded into place.

The case of the Cabot Moonshot 1911 is a work of art on its own. It is the result of the collaboration of Cabot Guns founder Robert Bianchin with Benoît Miniou of Parisian design house Les Ateliers Victor. The case is machined out of a single piece of aerospace-grade aluminum. It is embellished with Egyptian hieroglyphs and has a leather interior. The case has quite an interesting locking mechanism described in the quote below.

A special key is required to remove the star-studded outer cover. Custom fasteners were created to resemble lunar modules and function in the same manner as those that secure space cargo. Inside, lies a skeletonized solid titanium sliding lid, secured by a combination lock of rotating planets. A code—defined by the exact alignment of the planets to their positions at a certain historically significant date—is required to gain access to the treasures within.