Korth Ratzeburg 25th Anniversary 6" .357 Magnum

Korth built this one to mark its first quarter century, and the gold cartouche on the side plate tells you exactly what it is. Read it and the dates 25 and 1979 sit inside an oak-leaf wreath wrapped around the Korth name, struck in raised gold against deep oak-leaf scroll. That cartouche is the whole story. These anniversary guns came out of the Ratzeburg shop in small numbers, and finding one with this level of decorative work intact is not an everyday occurrence.

The action underneath all the dress is pure Ratzeburg-era Korth, the double-action system that built the company's reputation among shooters who could feel the difference. The trigger breaks clean in single action and rolls smooth through double. That is what you pay for with a Korth, and it is there before you even look at the engraving.

And the engraving rewards a slow look. Oak-leaf and acorn scroll runs the full length of the 6-inch barrel, with one band rendered in gold inlay and a second cut deep into the steel below it. The same gold oak-leaf banding wraps the cylinder flutes. On the left side plate, a gold-inlaid figure of a hunter standing over a stag sits among the foliate cut, a nod to the German hunting tradition these guns came from. The bluing is deep and high-polish, almost black in the right light, and it makes every gold line jump.

The grips are checkered walnut in the full target shape Korth favored, warm against the dark steel. Up top you get the adjustable target rear sight that ties back to the company's competition roots. The barrel address reads Made in W. Germany, Waffenfabrik W. Korth, Ratzeburg, in gold on the frame plate.

For a collector who chases the finest European revolvers, this is the kind of piece that anchors a case. You are holding Korth's own celebration of itself, dressed by the hand of a master engraver.