UPG/UVF-stamped Vetterli-Vitali model 1870/87 Rifle

Highly desirable piece of local history: discovered hidden in a house in Antrim town, this is an extremely rare Ulster Provisional Government (U.P.G.) and Ulster Volunteer Force (U.V.F.) marked Vetterli-Vitali Rifle, Model 1870/87, chambered in 10.35mm (obsolete calibre).
About 4600 of these rifles plus ammunition and bayonets where smuggled into the north of Ireland in 1914 by the U.V.F.  organised by Edward Carson to prevent Irish home rule and counter any threat to Ulster’s connection with Britain and the Crown
Smuggled into Larne, Bangor, and Donaghadee in April of 1914, this weapon may be presumed to have been one of the Larne-landed consignment.
Once received these rifles were marked with the U.V.F. property stamp; however, from this very small batch of rifles an estimated 100 rifles were also marked to the U.P.G. (Ulster Provisional Government). These rifles were issued to the hierarchy and senior members. Very few now exist, often they were hidden away in barns, lofts, cellars and sheds and forgotten about.
This rifle is of obsolete calibre, making it legal to possess without a firearms certificate. It can be cocked, stripped and dry fired.