French Double...here is the mark-up I sent to Daughter in law for her to understand the stamps on the 1906 Gerest-Berthon with barrels by Didier-Drevet that I gave her. Perhaps this might help - you start to understand the amounts of advertising that went into French gun stamps:
1. Didier Drevet, barrel maker (Canonier St Etienne) and his marks.
2. Grand Prize 1900 (for Paris Universelle exposition) (Gerest won a gold medal there and I think this is for Gerest not DD. DD won a prize at Liege in 1905 and there is allegedly a mark on the gun to this effect.
3-4. Once again the Proof mark for Saint Etienne for PT powder.
5. This is the length of the chamber in centimeters i.e. “7 cm” or 2 3/4”..normally marked 70mm in every other place in Europe but Saint Etienne at the time… Saint Etienne switched from using mm in 1889 to cm then back to mm in 1912. The fact that this gun is chambered for 2 3/4” is unusual. Most French guns of the era until after WWII were chambered for 6.5 or 65mm i.e. 2 1/2” shells. See “Double Express” on both barrel and butt plate.
6. 17.0 = diameter of the bore in mm which is equal to 16 gauge in America/UK. 18.4mm is 12 gauge. 15.6 is 20 gauge,
7. The crossed palms with “St Etienne” is the Saint Etienne proof house mark. This gun has two palm marks, meaning it’s been “double proofed” for more powerful powder charges than normal. The old butt plate which was replaced had “?????? Express” stamped on it.
8. “Didier Eureka Canon Plume”: trademark of Didier Drevet. He invented a barrel which did not have a lower rib and thus was a lot lighter. Canon (barrel) plume (feather) is the idea.
9. (white). 1906 . 11985: The date the barrel was made by Didier Drevet 1906 and DD’s barrel serial number. Saint Etienne guns are very hard to date. However, the fact that DD dated and serial numbered his barrels enabled me to sort of revolutionize the dating process….
10. 7859: Gerest-Berthon serial number of the gun
11. “Canon du Surete Garantie” “Double Express”: Sort of an advertisement meaning “guaranteed good barrels.” The “double express” is interesting and unusual as mentioned above and is why it’s chambered for 7.0 cm length shells.
12 “Non pour la balle” (not for ball). This means that the barrels had “chokes” and could not fire a straight slug bullet the size of the bore.
Name of the retailer in Sicily.
