Kyrie,
Nice gun. I don’t believe the French marks are for reproof. Hard to tell from where I sit, for sure, but, my guess is proofed tubes, sourced in St. Etienne, and finished up elsewhere.
Use it in good health, my friend.
Best,
Ted
It’s a shotgun with a long and (for me) murky history. The barrels suggest a varied history.
The barrel tubes clearly have the St. Etienne stamp. I know very little about French proof and French proof house practices. Is this St. Etienne stamp a firing proof stamp? If so, would it indicate a preliminary or a definitive proof firing?
The barrel flats have the (faint, due to refinishing) stamps of the Eibar proof house, as applied during the process of proof in the period between 1921 and 1929.
The “P.V.” stamp on the barrel flats confuses me. While this is an Eibar proof house stamp in use during the mid-1920s, it is also the maker’s mark of Aguirre y Aranzabal (AyA). In its early years AyA was a supplier of barrels and completed locks to the shotgun makers and provided these parts with either the stamp P.V. (early) or AyA (later).
My initial thought was the P.V. stamp sourced to barrels to AyA, but after more thought I’m inclined to think a connection to AyA is unlikely and to assume the P.V. stamp is just another Eibar proof house stamp.
All of this creates some uncertainty for me as to whether the barrels are original or a replacement. I lean toward original but would not swear to it.
The origin and purpose of the JABE stamp is straightforward. When a Spanish shotgun maker performed a maintenance repair on a shotgun made by some other maker the repairing gun maker would usually apply his maker’s mark just as we see it here.
The water table stamps are also straightforward. We have the stamp indicating submission to the Eibar proof house, a definitive firing proof stamp, stamps indicating two additional supplementary tests with smokeless powder, The stamp indicating a 12-gauge firearm, the maker’s mark (J.F.) and trademark of Joaquín Fernández, and the serial number.
