Thanks very much Fernando, I like your way of addressing key comments I note, its easier than my 'Tolstoyean' text, which even I have trouble navigating after I have written it
As I have always been an edged weapons guy, and am horrible at math and measuring things, I have a lot of trouble understanding calibers (and usually find it 'boring' …..shameless pun!). …...but aren't classifications of caliber and bore convertible? I thought .380 was just a way of expressing .38. The Liege weapons are indeed USUALLY stamped, but there seem to be some which are completely blank.
Such is the case with the diminutive .32 cal. pinfire revolver (post #6) I showed in earlier post with quarter and pen. It is regarded as French or German, but entirely unmarked. In its time c.1880s there were I believe regulations on marking and serializing guns in these countries, much as American arms were typically with serial numbers. This pinfire, probably with scores like it produced in huge volumes, was not. In America, the 'suicide specials' also had no serial numbers.
On that note, I actually got that gun in Cody, Wyoming and there was a most unusual museum there (not the gigantic Buffalo Bill one) which was called "The Dug Up Museum". In it were displays of many guns of the 'wild west' which are in relic condition and left 'as is' the way they were found in situ.
The displays are with desert and varied flora to show them in the context they were excavated or found. Many are fascinating and show just how dangerous some were, as the chambers exploded or simultaneously discharged in some cases.
In one case, an old Winchester rifle was found standing against a tree in an extremely remote region in rugged terrain in Nevada, and had been there since around 1890s. Anybodys guess at what happened to the guy who had it.
The Texas Rangers Museum is amazing, never saw so many guns!
Will, you are right, it would be great to have a 'Van Gogh' but I have settled for the copy of "Sunflowers" which has served well for decades with us, and conveys the desired effect. With relics, most have only intrinsic value, unless with stellar provenance, and in my collecting days, the rough examples were what I could afford. As a historian, they had what I wanted anyway, and I knew they hadn't been messed with.
As Fernando has noted, without profoundly witnessed and certified warranty of provenance, it is a rusty old item, and even with this documentation, caveat emptor!
"The Shootist" was a magnificent movie and was indeed his 'magnum opus' as he was of course in real life suffering from cancer as the aged 'shootist' in the movie. In this poignant film, the incredible identity and character of the true icons of the west are shown as only he could portray them. Naturally the 'Earp' doctrine would come into play.
We (I) have wandered of course again, but the topics of forensics, ballistics and the wild west are all important context of the times this event occurred in 1890s France. The indisputable influence of Cody and the 'wild west' even in France were it seems somewhat a factor in this colorfully mysterious case.