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
Manufacture d'Armes de l'Etat
Here is a Winchester 1866 "Yellow Boy" rifle (they were manufactured between
1866 and 1898) having the
characteristic to have passed to the Proofhouse of Liege AND to the
Manufacture
d'Armes de l'Etat. I don't know if there's
an inscription on the barrel and/or a number. In any case, you can see some
Liège punches, but they are not as sharp as usual:
The peron (inspection since 1853)
L under crown (a controller's countermark, of the type
used between 1853 and 1877)
ELG on star in oval, punch of acceptance in use between
1846 and 1893.
We also see a GH in a circle (incomplete since the
barrel is round). These initials have not been identified.
The calibre should in principle be 44/40.
Above all, one can see in
several places a
crowned EB
belonging to the gun manufacturer
Emile BERNARD.
The inspector’s initials have not been identified, but
the design of the stamp is in any case typical of the stamps used at the
Manufacture d’Armes de l’Etat in Liège and found on all the weapons used by the
Belgian armed forces.
What's more, the same
crowned EB
punch can be found on an 1873 Winchester that was the subject of an article by
Dirk Ziesing in an issue of the Deutsche Waffen Journal a few years ago. On this
weapon model 1873, the quality of the striking of the punches is clearly higher
than that of the punches of the Winchester 1866 now presented. Perhaps it is a
weapon purchased by the Belgian State for the purpose of carrying out studies
and tests?
Even be used in the Belgian Congo?
In which case it had to pass
through the Proofhouse of Liège before arriving at the
Manufacture
d’Armes de l’Etat (State Weapons
Manufacture).
Despite my research, I have found no trace of
Winchester weapons production in Belgium. Thousands were of course imported, all
of which passed through the proofhouse before being sold.
GP with the help of DZ and MC
