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
PIRE Jules & Cie
It is a “garden” rifle that can be disassembled in
three parts; according to what remains of the marking on the barrel, it is more
precisely a 9 mm Flobert rifle with short breech (Warnant
system) sold by the Antwerp company
Jules Pire et
Cie shortly before the First World War. In
any case, it appears in the catalogue “Edition P” of 1899 of this company and
another “Edition Z” dating from 1910 at the latest (it is likely that it sold
again after). It sold 22 francs. That is four francs more than a “normal” model.
The house Pire
stopped its activities at the end of 2016 (see the information about this dealer
on the website littlegun.be).
The
J.P. & Cie
Antwerp markings are found twice: on the stock and on the barrel. There is also
another marking on the barrel that appears to be
J.P & C under
crown.
In
principle, there should be other marks from the Liège proofhouse (probably
including FL 9 for the calibre), either under the barrel or on the left flank.
The
weapon is disassembled in three parts: the end of the barrel is unscrewed and
the stock is disassembled by turning a quarter turn to the left.
MD and GP
