doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Identified Belgian barrel maker marks

Thought someone might want to archive this list of identified Belgian maker marks-both steel and damascus. Thanks to Pete M for all his contributions! Please contribute other marks you might identify on American made guns.

LLH is the trade mark of Laurent Lochet-Habran, a Belgian maker.
http://www.littlegun.be/arme%20belge/artisans%20identifies%20l/a%20lochet%20l%20et%20g%20gb.htm
http://www.littlegun.be/arme%20belge/artisans%20identifies%20l/a%20lochet%20famille%20gb.htm
Smith hammer guns have been identified marked both London Steel and LLH. Lefever & Fox also used LLH barrels, as well as Krupp and Sanderson Bros. & Co (marked SB&Co), an English company with a branch in Syracuse, NY.

Three-lobed crown over a D - Jean-Baptiste Delcour-Dupont of Nessonvaux Found on Smith and Fox
http://www.littlegun.be/arme%20belge/artisans%20identifies%20d/a%20delcour%20dupont%20gb.htm

DD in an oval lying - DELCOUR-DUPONT Jean de Fraipont-Nessonvaux
http://www.littlegun.be/arme%20belge/artisans%20identifies%20i%20j%20k/a%20jobe%20t%20gb.htm

BD possibly the mark of Bauduin Doyen, a minor Nessonvaux damascus barrel maker. Found on several Smith guns.

GDH- Delcour Herket

J superimposed on a D- Jean Duchateau

LD- Lambert Dumoulin

GL with a Crown - George Laloux on a Lefever
http://www.littlegun.be/arme%20belge/artisans%20identifies%20l/a%20laloux%20georges%20gb.htm

J J in an oval, two letters one with the top of the other and being separated from a horizontal bar.
Joseph Joiris http://www.littlegun.be/arme%20belge/artisans%20identifies%20i%20j%20k/a%20joiris%20gb.htm

Crowned JJ: Joris J. of Nessonvaux
http://www.littlegun.be/arme%20belge/artisans%20identifies%20i%20j%20k/a%20joris%20j%20gb.htm

Damascus Flues marked H.R.F. of Heuse-Riga Fils http://www.littlegun.be/arme%20belge/artisans%20identifies%20h/a%20heuse%20gb.htm

Crowned HL - E. Heuse-Lemoine http://www.littlegun.be/arme%20belge/artisans%20identifies%20h/a%20heuse%20gb.htm

ADH and a diamond - Arthur-Delvaux-Heuse de Fraipont On Lefever and Baker

HB could be Heuse-Bovy
http://www.littlegun.be/arme%20belge/artisans%20identifies%20h/a%20heuse%20gb.htm

ACL - Acier Cockerill Liege and ACN- possibly Acier Cockerill Nessonvaux. Acier Cockerill means Cockerill Steel.
Cockerill Sambre was the major Belgian steel maker, equivalent to Krupp or Vickers.

Unable to identify maker's marks:
SC with a crown over on a Baker

List of master barrel manufacturers in 1907 in the "Syndicat des Fabricants de Canons de Fusil de la Vesdre", whose registered office was in Nessonvaux

Gaspar Lejeune de Forêt.
Edmont Mairlot de Nessonvaux.
Émile Tomsin de Nessonvaux.
Henri Heuse-Riga de Nessonvaux.
Louis-Joseph Meurice de Forêt.
Jean Delcour-Dupont de Nessonvaux.
Mathieu Waauve de Forêt.
Albert Taxhet-Lejeune de Forêt.
Walthère Baltus-Wilmot. de Forêt
J. Heuse-Lemoine de Nessonvaux.
Arthur-Delvaux-Heuse de Fraipont
Henri Heuse-Saive de Fraipont.
Alexis Noirfalise de Fraipont.
Auguste Higny de Nessonvaux.
Gilles Delcour-Herket de Fraipont
Joseph Delcour de Fraipont.
Bauduin Doyen de Fraipont
Henry Regnier de Nessonvaux.
Joseph Bawir de Forêt.
Joseph et Jacques Moray de Nessonvaux.
Nicolas Nicolet-Delcour de Fraipont
Servais Monthulet de Nessonvaux.
Oscar Lahaye de Fraipont.
Étienne Jo. Richelle de Nessonvaux.
Lambert Maquinay de Nessonvaux.
François Heuse-Méan de Fraipont.
Joseph Vandalem de Chaudfontaine
Jules Pirard-Ancion de Forêt.
Henri Lochet de Chaudfontaine.
Jean Lahaye-Marbaise de Fraipont
Jules Delheid de Nessonvaux.
Noël Remacle-Hardy de Nessonvaux.

1907 photo of Syndicat des Fabricants de Canons de Fusil de la Vesdre (Trade Union of the Manufacturers of Guns of Rifle of Vesdre) from Little Gun


I would add CC - Lucient Clement, also shows marks as CC AA & CC LC. Shows up on some guns made for Sears.
SC with crown - I am going hazard a guess that it was a variant of the mark of Charles Spirlet, who also used a Crown over CS and Crown over S. If some one has a better identification, please correct me.

These came from Researcher who deserves the credit:
Three-lobed crown over a D = Didiere barrel works of St Etienne, France.
He also tracked down SB&Co.

Pete

The plot thickens-may have found a c. 1870 Parker with 'LD' for Dumoulin-Lambinon (1860-1879) http://www.littlegun.be/arme%20belge/artisans%20identifies%20d/a%20dumoulin%20gb.htm

This is what I've got so far:

Damascus
L.C. Smith: Bauduin Doyen & Jean-Baptiste Delcour-Dupont
Baker: Charles Spirlet & Arthur-Delvaux-Heuse
Lefever: Arthur-Delvaux-Heuse & George Laloux
Fox: Jean-Baptiste Delcour-Dupont
Ithaca (Flues): Heuse-Riga Fils

Steel
Laurent Lochet-Habran: Smith, Lefever, Fox & Ithaca

Please check your classic American SxS damascus brls for other maker's marks and let me know and thanks!

Drew, another great job! Bill

Henri Pieper supplied "Finest Damascus" for Remington EE Grade guns
http://www.littlegun.be/arme%20belge/artisans%20identifies%20p/a%20pieper%20henri%20gb.htm

Pete M: Some time back you documented the major distributor from Vesdre who marketed brls in the UK and US, and who may have named some of the patters ie. Oxford, Boston, etc. Heuse-Lemoine? I can't find that thread. Do you recall the name and your source and thanks!

The plot thickens some more. Have found a documentary made in 1925 Les Canons damas à Nessonvaux by the Musée de la vie Wallonne http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0261599/ but can't find a source for the film. Any ideas?

Found Pete's post (72 pages back )

I was recently reading Claude Gaier's "Four Centuries of Liege Gunmaking". He sheds some light on the connection between US and Belgian firms.

Ernest Heuse-Lemoine, 1834-1926, from Nessonvaux was a major force in the Vesdre Valley for barrel making. He maintained agents in London, Birmingham, and New York. In addition his firm supplied the Belgian royal court. Apparently, every 3 years he would travel aboard. When he returned, he was met with a band. People would celebrate his return because he always came back with more work orders than his own firm could handle. He would farm out the work to smaller firms.

Gaier states that he supplied damascus barrels for at least 50 years to the US market. He believes Heuse-Lemoine invented the terms, Boston and Washington damascus especially for the American market.

Excellent work on the film! I knew it existed but not the name. It is mentioned in the April, 1976 American Rifleman article by Jean Puraye. An effort to document the damascus barrel making process at the end.

IMDB says it was released under 3 titles:
Les Canons damas à Nessonvaux,(Belgium: French title)
De Gedamasceerde kanonnen van Nessonvaux,(Belgium: Flemish title)
The Production of Damascus Steel Guns in Nessonvaux (Belgium: English title)

According to IMDB the Production company was Musée de la vie Wallonne. Which is currently closed.... If any one has a copy, they will.

Drew, take another look at the Puraye article, last page of part I. Have you recently seen any Turkish Etched damascus?
http://www.doublegunshop.com/forums/ubbt...=true#Post49109

Pete

Something more:
Springfield Mass. le 12 juillet 1951 ... j'ai calculé nos affaires depuis l'année 1890 et j'ai noté que nous avions acheté des francs pour la somme de 2.150.000 dollars que nous avons payé à Lochet, à mon oncle (Henri Heuse) et à Heuse-Riga fils. Je n'ai pas calculé les francs que nous avons reçu pour cette somme (d'après le Crédit-Communal de Bruxelles, cette somme correspond à 2.305.616.614 francs en 1993)... la Colt fire Arms Co de Hartford Con achetait les damas les plus chers comme les crollés et les damas turc à six lames. Lorsque les Allemands ont détruit la fabrication des canons damas, cela a été une calamité pour Nessonvaux. Mon papa est l'homme qui a acheté le plus de canons damas, il en a vendu plus, tout seul, que tous les autres ensemble. Ce sont les Riga qui ont mis le canon damas en force ici...

the Colt fire Arms Co of Hartford Con bought the Damas most expensive like crollés and Turkish Damas with six blades. When the Germans destroyed the manufacture of the Damas guns, that was a calamity for Nessonvaux. My dad is the man who bought the most Damas guns, he sold some more, all alone, which all others together. They are Riga which put the Damas gun forces some here…

http://heuse.spahistoire.info/henriheuse.html

So, we have a source for Colt's damascus...

Pete

Great stuff Pete and this detective work sure is fun!
Looks like Heuse-Riga fils. was selling high grade Plunger-Riga damascus barrels some time c. 1890. And BTW: Leopold Plunger may have developed "Horseshoe" damascus.
Sure hope we can come up with something from that film.