Giusto Gervasutti, Walter Bonatti, Emilio Comici and Ricardo Cassin, just a few of the glittering array of Italian Alpinistes who danced across the high mountains of the Alps in the middle of the last century and like many famous mountaineers from around the world, Cassin also started producing mountaineering equipment in his home town of Lecco in 1947.

The first of his Cassin Carabiners appeared in 1950 and although a Frenchman called Pierre Alain had created aluminium alloy carabiners back in 1939, most 1950s versions were still made of steel as were the early Cassin versions. The couple we have here in the collection are pretty early versions – circa 1955 – and you can see similar versions for sale in the 1960s George Fisher catalogue above when a Cassin Karabiner would have cost you nine shillings i.e. 40p. These two were kindly donated by our old friend, retired mountain Guide, Dave Siviter.