Le Gaulois

Complete set accompanying a "Pistolet de poche Gaulois à répétition semi-automatique", 5 shots, 8 mm caliber centerfire.

This example is a deluxe model in polished steel fully engraved with fleurettes on a guilloché background. The loading door is blued. The handle is made of a composite material imitating burr walnut. It is finely checkered. The slides are in bronzed metal. The safety button is coloured red.

The set includes, in addition to the pistol, the cardboard box complete with its swab, a box of cartridges and its disassembly and maintenance manual, all as delivered at the time by the "Manufacture d'Armes et Cycles de Saint-Etienne".

This pistol is in mint condition. On the top of the barrel, it bears the Manufrance hallmark, used between 1890 and 1920, as well as the inscription "Gaulois". On the right-hand side of the frame is the inscription "Manufacture Française d'Armes de Saint-Etienne" in a cartouche.

This is a moving testament to the era straddling the very end of the 19th and the very beginning of the 20th century, ultimately rare, when in very good condition and complete with origin, like the model presented.