Some of the most beautiful work of this craftsman are in this book “The Francotte Dynasty”.
For more detail see: The Francotte Dynasty
Auguste FRANCOTTE
It is a
musketon (two grenadières) of type Snider (similar to the model Enfield-Snider
1853/66) manufactured by the house
Auguste FRANCOTTE
of Liege (name on the locks and the breech, several crowned markings
AF).
We did
not receive any data concerning the number of stripes nor the gauge.
The only
visible and readable punch is ELG in an oval, the punch of acceptance between on
September 8th, 1846 and on July 11th, 1893.
This kind
of weapon is thus resulting from the transformation presented by the American
inventor Jacob Snider (1811-1866) for the transformation of the weapons to
percussion into loading by the breech. He knew a quasi world diffusion, in all
the British Empire, Siam, Egypt, Japan, the Netherlands, Denmark, etc the house
Auguste FRANCOTTE
was very prolific and produced civil and soldiers weapons in great number for
many countries, so that he is almost impossible to specify which was the
destination of this musketon.
It should
be noted that on this specimen, the helical spring around the axis of the
breech-block is apparent (as on snuffbox 1867 French rifle of Schneider,
strongly inspired by Snider), while most Snider, it is protected by a system
from gear sliding tubes.
GP
