I won an auction yesterday from a dealer I buy from a lot and is pretty knowledgeable. He had a Merkel 16 ga O/U he had dated to 1935. It has nice floral and scroll engraving and decent wood. Very good original looking condition. I am not very knowledgeable about Merkels but wanted an early one to add to a few Beretta S series guns I have from that period. The gun looks to be marked as a complete Merkel gun with the exception of the forend latch which is marked "Mouseaux & Atfeux" in a box, followed by the serial number 3020.
The only possible link could find was Mosseaux & Arfeux, a gunsmith from LeMans. The only thing I can assume is that they made guns for sale through them. If so, they have misspelled the client's name in the engraving. There is no doubt as to the spelling on the gun. It also has an odd high solid rib with a tee at the front with the bead attached to the tee. The breech has a matching contoured block into which the rib lands and a semicircular top. The rib and "sighting device" is around 1/4" higher than the top of the frame. The rib sides over the action has a few tiny vining leaves engrave on the side. The stock is a pretty distinctive style with what could be described as a very shallow Prince of Wales grip with a shallow rollover comb instead of a simple cheekpiece. It looks to be a very good condition gun with several interesting features. It has been proofed at some point in England.
I would like to know if I am correct in my assumption as to the sales agent and if this might have possibly been a one off custom order, given the unique seeming features and the mis-spelling of the seller's name. It also has the owner's initials inlaid in the comb. Also, would a serial number of 3020 be normal for a 1935 gun? This seems low for the history of the maker. It is totally marked as a Merkel Freres, so I would suspect it would carry a normal series number.
I will post some pictures when I recieve the gun.
Last edited by AGS; 07/27/26 01:18 PM.
