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
Marcel JAMIN
It is indeed, it seems to me, a revolver derived from
the NAGANT.
Without having manipulated it, I think it has an
ABADIE
door.
The
barrel has eight blades and the barrel is fluted with six blows.
The possible 8 mm caliber mentioned by the owner could
be the 7.62
NAGANT !
The
feeding is done through the door placed on the right side and lowering thanks to
the action of an external spring.
The rod
rotates on an axis to come and remove in the chambers, the casings possibly
inflated by the shot.
The
handle consists of two finely gridded walnut inserts connected by a through
screw and two rosettes. It ends with a cap ring.
The
weapon bears the hallmarks of the Liège proofhouse, namely:
ELG
starred in a crowned oval: acceptance post 1893.
Star C:
countermark of the controller post 1877.
R crowned
: striped cannon, in use from 1894 to the present day.
It also
bears various "factory" marks, namely:
M.J. in a
diamond
is the trademark of JAMIN Marcel,
arms manufacturer in Liège quai Saint Léonard, n° 41. He was registered on the
bench from 1910 to 1933, succeeding
DEFIZE Félix
(1906/1910).
J.I. Bté:
is the unknown mark of the inventor of one or the other system appearing on the
weapon.
Unfortunately, I was not able to identify him.
However,
there are not many gunsmiths with the initial "I".
NW: This is most likely an unknown subcontractor brand. You know that there
were many of them, and few of them left a written record.
The crown
on the back of the barrel does not belong to the test bench and until now this
often encountered mark could not be identified with certainty. We believe it
belongs to the foundry (Herstal?) who produced this barrel.
GG
Marcel Jamin
This weapon carries all the traditional punches of the proofhouse of Liege:
Spangled ELG in a crowned oval: acceptance post 1893.
Peron: inspection post 1853.
E *: countermark of the controller post 1877.
EL in cursive letters: provisional test, of use of 1852 to our days.
CHOKE 16.3/???? : choke barrels: gauge in mm to 22 cm of the breech and the mouth. In use of 1898 to 1910.
Mark “LIEGE - BELGIUM”: Without comment!!
Mark “JF”: Manufacturer of the barrels Jean FALLA.
Manufacturer of the weapon.
The manufacturer is JAMIN Marcel, quay Saint Léonard, 41 in Liege which was registered with the registers of the manufacturers of the bench of tests of Liege of 1910 to 1933.
We think that its speciality was the weapon of hunting.
Mark MJ in a rhombus belongs to this craftsman.
Date of manufacture: marking CHOKE 16.3 existed until 1910 and JAMIN began its inscription with the proofhouse this year. It is thus extremely probable that it is one of the very first weapons which it presented at the test.
GG et Alain
