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
IDON Dieudonné Joseph
Here is a
Belgian revolver that is certainly out of the ordinary: it is in a museum in
Radom, Poland.
Threaded
barrel tip, movable front sight, cap and spring (modified?) of the loading door
elicited a number of questions/suggestions among the team members.
The author of this identification is also intrigued by
the ejection rod of the swivel-ring bushings typical of
NAGANT
revolvers. He is followed by another member of the team.
The
calibre is 7.5 mm, according to the curator of the museum.
Markings
ELG on
star in crowned oval: accepted, in use from 1893 to 1968;
Lion on
PV: smokeless powder test, in use from 4 October 1898 to 1968;
y under
asterisk: countermark of a controller, in use since 1877;
L
crowned: regularly found on barrels of revolvers made in Liège, probably the
mark of a foundry.
In
conclusion, the weapon is in any case post-October 4, 1898.
Below the plates are also the letters MO in a
horizontal diamond, the letters NW and
J.I.
or J.A. Bté.
One of the team members leaned in favour of
J.I.,
namely
Dieudonné Joseph IDON, a revolver
manufacturer in Saint-Remy between 1908 and 1923, who had filed five patents,
but his patents had nothing to do with the weapon in question. It should be
noted, however, that many gunsmiths, who had filed patents, continued to affix
the word “Bté” or patented even to weapons that had nothing to do with any
patent. Moreover and above all, in Belgium and thus in Liège, the mention
“patented” could also mean that the gunmaker in question had graduated from the
School of Armoury in Liège...
Unfortunately, I have not found anything about a Liège gunsmith J.A. that could
be related to this revolver.
A member of the team suggests that this is a
simplified copy/variant of the Abadie revolvers (1872/1878 cal 9,4 - 1882 Swiss
cal 7,5 (PIRLOT) –
1878 Portuguese cal 9,4 (SOLEIL).
Another
dream is of a rocket launcher.
I found on the web the following link, about a
NAGANT
1895 with silencer:
https://blog.armae.com/le-nagant-1895-une-arme-dexception.html
But I
have doubts to the extent that 1° the calibre would be the 7.5 and not the 7.62
Nagant; 2° the barrel does not appear to be of the "forward"/no gas leakage
type.
The search continues...
GP with the help of HPH, Chris, MD and MC.
