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Thanks Raimey - I should be able to get some more photos of the marks on the barrels early next week and will post them.

Very helpful information - much appreciated.

Here are some additional pictures of the marks on the barrels (sorry for the photo quality - phone camera):





This is a photo of the crest on the stock oval:


As indicated in one photo, the letter D is stamped on the bottom rib between the fore-end loop and the barrel flats, and the letter B is stamped next to the fore-end loop. There are also two script letters stamped on the bottom of the right barrel next the barrel flats that I could not capture clearly. The second letter is a W, the first letter was either an S or a G.

The SN on the barrels is not stamped on the action or fore-end.

Below is a J.J.(Johann Jakob) Reeb Bonn sporting weapon, really a Belgian trade gun, with DUCO Stahl on the top rib and DUCO on the toplever.






DUCO Stahl








Amtlich Rauchlos Erprobt

For some reason the German proofhouse set the bar/tone for the other European proofhouses and evidently to defray doubt(& possibly advertising) the Belgian craftsmen applied several stamps with verbiage that noted smokeless proof.

amtlich vierfach geprueft und eingeschossen mit staerkster ladung rauchlosen pulvers

Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse

Image from 1907 article.

There has been some discussion/research off post so those with finding please add any pertinent info.

Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse

Such inscriptions advertizing the suitability for smokeless loads on Belgian guns intended for the German market makes a lot of sense to me. We are constantly answering questions on this forum and others, or by email, like "where, when and for what load was my gun proofed? What does this little lion over PV mean."
Apparently precious few people are able to read proofmarks even today! It was not better in the good old days. And: The Belgian proofmarks, valid in Germany too, did not show a familiar symbol over/under N mark nor the word Nitro, only little lions with cryptic letters like EC, SCH, PT or PV. So some Belgians or German importers felt the need to make it clear to their clientele that the new gun was indeed suitable for modern smokeless loads.
BTW, there was indeed a shotgun proof in Belgiun from 1924 - 1968 called fourfold, the marks were a crowned EL with laurel branches for treble bp proof of the barrels and a crown over PV for a higher than usual smokeless pressure load.

Speculating, but not really, but the presence of the crest on the stock oval indicates this was made for someone of the nobility. In German-speaking countries, one can swiftly find himself on the wrong end of a lawsuit if one tries falsely passing oneself off as being of the nobility. And that would extend to things like having a crest on one's gun.

Given the quality apparent in this gun, I think speculating the initial buyer was of the nobility and entitled to the crest is safe.

The presence of the crest would also make it seem more likely that the gun was made earlier in the 1912-23 time frame, rather than later, as touting one's noble status was, while not illegal, less favored post-WWI than pre.

All in all, though, it looks like a good buy and a better find.

DUCO is certainly the mark of Fs Dumoulin & Co.

Pete

Dave in Main,
The gun looks like a good working gun, but is not of the"quality"(speaking of adornment)expected of one made for nobility. The crest should be identified before getting too excited.
Mike

Not sure on the term fourfold there Axel, but do you mean threefold per the triple proof on the unfinished tubes?


Triple Provisional Proof


Double Provisional Proof


Then there some bastard of a proof referred to as superior.

Auch


There seems to have been a gap in this so called superior proof form 1924 - 1959 and the mark was, that is if the 2 superior proofs were one in the same.




Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse

Thanks to Mr. Hallquist in the quest for info.

Note that the firm Francois Dumoumlin & Companie was founded in 1908 and there's a DUCO reference on the last pistol:
http://www.littlegun.be/arme%20belge/art...%20cie%20gb.htm


Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse