Bernard was a famous barrelmaker. Would "Bernard" refer only to his barrels, or to barrels that looked like his?
Eclair means lightning, or flash of lightning. I remember picking up a French newspaper and seeing a comic strip called "Guy L'Eclair"--Flash Gordon.
Larry,
Not to take anything from Drew's excellent post or his efforts. We know from Puraye and Gaier that about 30 different damascus patterns were developed and sold. Drew is attempting to do the nearly impossible feat of recording each one with an actual image. Dr. Gaddy basically threw his hands up at this and said no way.
The problem is with the nomenclature that was used. This catalog is a good example. They show a twist and call it Bernard or English. They call their own pattern Eclair. Another pattern they call Plank or Boston. To my eye it resembles a Remington Oxford SJ. So even at the time pattern names were a fluid thing. Mostly left to the marketing department, no doubt.
In Belgium the scene may be a bit different. Their trade mark laws were much broader. It was technically possible to trade mark a color under Belgian law. The illustrations we have of the billets all seem to come from Belgian trade mark applications. So it may be possible, just may be, if we could hunt down every pattern trade marked in Belgium to have a complete record. What is the purpose? Well one is simply to create a record. The other is a basic premise that the patterns became more complex over time. But that can only be proved with a written record of when they were registered. It would also help to understand in more detail how the barrel making guild functioned. Who was paying for the use of a pattern?
Pete
