Some of the most beautiful work of this craftsman, and many others, are in this book “Liège Gunmakers through their Work. 1800 - 1950”.
For more detail see: LIEGE GUNMAKERS
DOURLEZ & VAN DE WIRT
It seems
to me that it is a Lefaucheux (pinfire) hunting rifle. The damask barrels are
juxtaposed and attached to "drawers". The locks are of the "back" type and the
hammers have a flat base for striking the pins. The walnut butt is shaped “in
the English way”. The opening system of the weapon is in principle the same as
the Lefaucheux system, but the key is in the under-guard. It has the advantage
of being more convenient to manoeuvre.
The
weapon bears some (not all) of the Liège proofhouse, namely:
EL in
English letters: provisional proof, in use from 1852 to the present day.
LD*: I
think it’s a controller’s punch, in use from 1877 to 1968.
17.2:
this is the caliber in mm, in use from 1889 to the present day.
The
weapon also bears a mark in a rounded rectangle with golden and crowned letters
that could be P.J.H. but without certainty. These are “probably” the initials of
the first owner.
The
marks around the base of the hammers are:
DOURLEZ
and VAN DE WIRT MANUFACTURERS IN LIEGE.
I did
not find any trace of these manufacturers in the documentation on the Liege
armoury, however very important. In the nineteenth century, there were temporary
associations that left little trace in history.
GG
