doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Leopold Bernard Mystery 5 digits numbers

That was the intent. It seems to work now!
Yes it is the Roblin that Kirby has. I believe that it is an "H". I'll call him and get the full size pic.
WC-

The Claudin is great!
You can see that the maker was "forced" to put in the finishing date (1846) because Bernard put his date on the barrels at 1845.
The legion of honor stamp is not there yet, nor is the Paris reference.
I was puzzled about the "Ae 1846" until I realized it meant "Annee": year.
Number 4044 is a very early barrel set.

I believe that the brazing of the lumps on the tubes was a very risky endeavor back then, which means that the barrel assembly was worth quite a bit more than two tubes. The other part is that the rib damascus matches the tubes, so that would be hard to do if things were not assembled at the barrel maker's shop.

Another weird one is that all the books say that proofing was indeed mandatory back then, but Bernard (and Claudin) escaped the rule, somehow.

Keeps them coming!

WC-

No I am not sure, but it makes sense. The stamping is pretty bad indeed.
The funny part is that Bernard was hosting the proofing operation in Paris, so that would add insult to injury.
I only see provisional proof, but that's OK if the barrels went to Germany to be assembled on a gun.

All the best,
WC-

Unfortunately, I can't help you with this without any picture.
However, it has nothing to do with Bernard. (not like it matters...)

Best regards,
WC-

Heinrich Barella



It may be an encircled EP, but I can't get my eyes to make it out for now.

Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse

I guess that indeed it is possible.

Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse

Re E. Bernard
While digging around the net I found the remnant of an 1865 law suit from L Bernard against the Eastern railroad company.
The law suit alleges that E Bernard was a French tradesman who moved to Liege and started marking guns with "E Bernard canonnier a Paris". The law suit also alleges that Eugene was marking anybody's gun with his name for a fee (2.50 Frs). That would explain why so many of them are around. (I found a whole bunch on naturabuy.fr vs a few real Bernard barelled guns).
Not having jurisdiction on the Belgians, Bernard sued the railroad company that transported them. He lost, but the E Bernard weapons were confiscated and his rights were confirmed.

Best regards,
WC-

Most interesting. He must have had a dandy of a barrister: sue the transportation if you can't sue the manufacture. Can you give us a date on the litigation?

Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse

WC - "You can see that the maker was "forced" to put in the finishing date (1846) because Bernard put his date on the barrels at 1845."

We might have a problem. Leopold was born in 1832, and his father may have died the year of his birth. Not likely he was making barrels of that quality at age 13.

Judgement was rendered on May 2nd 1865. The issue started in Feb 1865.
What mattered to LB was to have his rights reaffirmed. It was more of a warning shot.
The importer testified that they had imported 1000s of EB guns beforehand "without any trouble".
WC-