Pair of silver-mounted French carriage pistols
 

Hi everyone, especially those who are more familiar with 18th century French gunsmiths than me. I recently bought this pair, dated about 1760, and very handsome they are too. The locks are signed Mardier Paris, at least that is the best I can make of it - the engraving is quite worn. The silver escutcheon is clearer - showing a crest of an open hand surmounted by a crown. I cannot find the name Mardier anywhere nor the crest. So any information that you forum colleagues can post will be gratefully received. Thank you.
Neil

and a better one of the crest

A foto of the gunmaker's signature would help a lot, because there is no "MARDIER" in France, but lots of "MERCIER"s and other names that could be possible.
corrado26

I found several families using this "hand", but this one stood out:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clan_Lamont

Thanks to Corrado and Will. The Lamont hand certainly looks persuasive though it lacks the crown and the 'eagle' supporters at the side. So....
Here are 2 photos of the signature; these are the best of the 4. As I said the lock plates are fairly worn.
Neil

Hi Neil,

extremely beautiful couple!

Mardier could also be the name of the owner, see for example page 10 of the attached publication of honored soldiers.the publication is from 1790, this corresponds nicely with the age of the couple.

the raised hand may indicate that the owner has taken some kind of a (military) oath. It doesn't have to be a coat of arms.

best
Jasper

https://books.google.nl/books?id=bvF...0paris&f=false

Après le "Qui est Qui de l'Arme en France" I think, the gunmaker was Jean Baptiste MAZELIER 1726-1760. It was Perre Lepage who was apprentice at him between 1726 and 1730.
corrado26

yes this is correct and makes more sense.
if I look closer, I see that the e matches and the r does not.

best,

Exactly. The "r" in the middle was very strange and different from the one at the end.

Anyhow, excellent aquisition!
:)

Thanks again to Corrado and to Jasper. Now that I know that there was a gunmaker named Mazelier (which I did not know before) I can see that name in the engraved signature. Even so Jasper's list shows that the name Mardier did exist, though not necessarily in the gunmaking trade.
I still think that the escutcheon depicts a family crest/arms. The displayed hand is clearly not enough by itself to identify the owner so the surmounting crown and supporting eagles (?) have to be taken into consideration.
Thanks to everyone for their comments.
Neil