Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania– January 2023 – Made from the original steel used to build the famed Golden Gate Bridge, Cabot Guns is proud to introduce our four-of-a-kind California 1911 pistols.
Ironically, the pistols are not available for purchase in the state.
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Construction began on California’s Golden Gate Bridge in 1933. Bethlehem Steel produced 24,500 tons of steel cable for the bridge’s suspension system and transported it by rail to Philadelphia. The materials were then loaded onto ships that steamed through the Panama Canal and eventually docked in Alameda, CA. At the time of its completion in 1937, the Golden Gate Bridge boasted the longest span and tallest towers of any suspension bridge in the world.
Many renovations have been completed on the iconic structure that spans the entrance to San Francisco Bay. In 2019, Cabot acquired some of the bridge’s original suspension cable wire salvaged from a renovation of the bridge. Cabot Guns Founder & CEO, Rob Bianchin, and the Cabot team, creatively worked on how how to turn it into museum-grade 1911 pistols over a 3-year process and collaborated with American metal artist and Damascene steel master Robert Eggerling. The task: transform this historic material into Damascus steel suitable for pistol craft.
Eggerling has previously created masterful Damascus for Cabot, but he truly exceeded our wildest expectations with the steel used to beget the California pistols. This material was so challenging to work with. The pencil-thick cables were heavily coated and had to be stripped before we could know if they were even usable. Several ideas on how to proceed were discussed, but in the end, Robert—somehow—created completely unique billets of Mosaic Damascus that contain images of the Golden Gate Bridge within the steel!
Each of the four slides features two Golden Gate bridges, deliberately positioned where one would normally find front and rear cocking serrations. To maximize the visual aesthetic, we employed a monolithic slide design coupled with a never-before-used selective etching process. The California pistols could have easily been ruined by this technique. We made a high-risk decision because deep etching would yield an uncommon, sculpted appearance that would magnificently offset the hand-polished, 2-micron mirror finish for the remaining flats and rounds of the slide. We believe the reward was well worth the risk as the finished pistols dazzle with an exquisite variance of colors.
Each aspect of this Damascus—which includes the grip sets and triggers—presents a collage of individual designs, resembling Beeple mosaic photo art, only with Golden Gate steel as the medium. The closer one looks, the more radical the range of images, from faces to the initials of the master himself. It is truly extraordinary. To anchor this limited edition of four pistols in the bedrock of history, each California 1911 has a custom serial number ranging from GOLDENGATE1 to GOLDENGATE4.
Cabot blazed another new trail when producing the California pistols. We crafted the front sights from solid 14k gold—a small but striking homage to the California gold rush—complete with 14K CABOT engraved along the sights’ top edges.
For these full-size pistols chambered in .45 ACP, museum-grade display and storage cases were developed in collaboration with Master Furniture Maker Steven Parker. The limited-edition set of cases—only four were made, one for each California pistol—are made from museum-grade, highly figured ancient Redwood, hand-selected and finely book matched with a painstakingly hand-rubbed finish adorned with polished brass fittings and hardware. Curved bloodwood inlays on the lid share the Golden Gate Bridge motif.
Each case’s interior is no less thematic and luxurious, with steel cable from the bridge’s structure inserted into the Freedom Fit tray. Ultra-soft black suede lines the interior edges of the arched tray and gently grasps the California so its beauty will be appreciated from every angle.
Meticulously handcrafted from the same practically indestructible American steel used to build the most iconic structure in the state, we are certain these limited-edition California 1911 pistols will find a place of honor in four cherished collections.
The California 1911 will be displayed in Las Vegas from January 17 to 20, 2023 during SHOT Show located at the Cabot Guns Booth Number 41918 of the Venetian Expo Center.
Cabot pistols proudly embody both state-of-the-art aerospace precision construction and traditional handmade craftsmanship in the art of gun making. Read our Made in America Manifesto.
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