Quote:
|
there are no proof marks visible
|
Thank you for adding this information – I kept looking for proof marks in the pictures and thought it strange that I saw none. The following information may be useful to you; however, attempting to determine the authenticity of an antique firearm from a photograph is not something I would venture to do.
Quote:
|
The practice of proving firearms apparently started in 1637 when a royal charter was granted to the gunmakers’ guild of London which authorized them to have the final authority in the testing of all firearms…. If you find the letters “VP” on a gun that has been sold in the British Empire, it means “Viewed and Proved.” The first step, called “Viewing,” consists of tests to see that all parts have the necessary tolerance, that they are assembled properly, and that the gun functions well mechanically. At the end of this process, the letter “V” is stamped on the gun. Next, heavy charges are fired to see if the gun is safe; if it is, it is regarded as “proved” and the “P” is stamped.
|
Gun Collecting, Chapel, Charles Edward; “Identification”, pp.140-141.
Quote:
|
The first Charter of Incorporation of the London Gun-makers’ Company possibly did not confer the powers which rendered gun-barrel proving at the Company’s house imperative, but the second charter, granted in 1672, gave powers of searching for and proving and marking all manner of hand guns, great and small, daggs and pistols, and every part thereof, whether made in London or the suburbs, or within ten miles thereof, or imported from foreign parts, or otherwise brought thither for sale; and a scale for proof was thereby established.
|
The Gun and Its Development, Greener, W.W., “The Proof of Guns”, p.288.
The absence of any proof marks is, therefore, at least a cause for concern. (It should be noted that the marks might be other than the "VP" referred to above, and might include variants of "GP", "BP", or other combinations, depending on the place and date of manufacture and proving. The letters would be in script typeface, surmounted by a lion rampant or royal crown).
Berkley