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
Joiris-Michel Jean
Here is a 7 mm pinfire cartridge revolver that has had better days ( it has been
very strongly repelled) but nevertheless has two interesting features: the first
is the loading door spring which is not of the “common” model (where there is a
spring inside the door); the second is the safety of the hammer, which may have
been patented by Debouxtay.
The only markings that survived polishing were the initials JMJE or F on the
handle underneath the plate of grips. Maybe there are other punches on the
barrel edge?
A priori, this weapon has a Debouxtay type of safety. The initials JMJ (there is
a fourth letter...) could be Joiris-Michel Jean, armourer (see below) and since
it is a pinfire weapon, thus a priori previous (even though we continued to
manufacture pinfire weapon long after the introduction of central percussion
cartridges), we can attribute to him the paternity of this weapon.
Dieudonné (sometimes spelled Dieu Donné) Debouxtay, arms manufacturer in Liège,
Rue Saint -Leonard, 449, filed several patents for invention and improvement in
the security of revolvers between April 28, 1888 and July 25, 1904. He also
bought and perfected patents from other inventors (Joiris-Michel Jean, armourer,
of Wandre and Maréchal-Vervier Michel, armourer, of Sabaré-Cheratte).
Specifically, they are patents no. 119 456 (invention) of 31 January 1896 and
no. 125 054 (improvement) of 15 October 1896 granted to Michel Maréchal-Vervier.
The transfer of the rights to D. D. Debouxtay was notarized by Eugène
Vandenberg, a notary in Liège, on December 14, 1896.
Those 149 394 issued on 29 April 1900, filed by Dieudonné Debouxtay on 14 April
1900, which resembles the model of this revolver.
HPH and GP
