Quote:
Originally Posted by fernando
... Pity i don't have clear pictures of the pistols themselves...
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For yours and all interested members delight, here is a set of pictures of these great pistols, a kind courtesy of Professor Rainer Daehnhardt.
As previously noted,these barrels were manufactured in Lisbon in 1584 for the Duke Don Diego de Gomez de Silva y Mendoza, a noble Luso Spaniard, Captain General of the Portuguese frontier, later Vice Roy of the Kingdom (1564-1630). They were remounted under commission in Paris in 1811 by Napoleon's gun smith Jean Lepage, exclusively for the reuse of these magnificent pair of Portuguese barrels.
It is known that Le Page used to produce all guns for Napoleon's personal use, as being preferred by him to those of Boutet, due to a flaw in their nechanism.
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