Barrel length 72 cm, stock length 36 cm, choke cylinder & 1/2 (C & M), Belgian proof, year of manufacture, condition 4-5. Rust deposits on the outside of the lock, receiver and key. Wood with superficial cracks on the piston neck, striker spring broken on the left. Demibloc barrels, ejectors, concave rail, third tumbler, light receiver with remnants of the hardening paints inside, sidelocks with springs in place, catch rods, gas outlet slots on the bottom of the butt, engraved edge engraving and sparse central arched arabesques, signed "Capece" in the trigger guard, non-automatic sliding tang safety with gold inlaid "S", double trigger with blued tangs, evasive tang, strikingly grained stock with drops, straight diamond-shaped handle, fine checkering, lightened stock end with skip line checkering, 35.5 cm, forend with Anson pusher, embedded golden medallion with Model designation "The Standard Pigeon Gun" and an engraved pigeon, gold barrel monogram plate engraved with initials "MJ", , in the manufacturer's canvas-covered case with trade label, manufacturer's certificate, In 1939, Karl, Count of Flanders and Prince of Belgium (1903 - 1983), the brother of the Belgian King Leopold III. The Auguste Lebeau-Courally arms manufacturer from Liège, who became famous as a purveyor to the Russian tsar's court, made two weapons that were intended as gifts. Only a few months later, Belgium was occupied by German troops who used this neutral country to bypass the direct and very heavily secured border with France and to successfully attack this country, which had declared war on Germany, from a new unexpected direction can. Belgium remained under German rule, and the thriving Belgian arms industry in and around Liège had to devote itself to other tasks than the production of luxury weapons. This gave the German troops the opportunity to experience the first-class quality of Belgian products, but the gift from the royal Belgian had to wait. Unlike his brother, he himself joined the resistance and spent the war unrecognized on a farm in Spa. A few hard years later, Belgium experienced the last offensive in the Ardennes of the German Empire, which was originally considered invincible. Now the Western Allies were able to relieve Belgium after their neighbor France. In 1945, Charles was appointed Prince Regent by the provisional government in place of his brother, who had gone into exile, and his gift was finally finished after such a long time: a pair of fine sidelock double-barreled shotguns for the French General Charles de Gaulle (1890 - 1970). However, he would hardly have had the opportunity to appreciate his gift much earlier, as he, as head of free France, had commanded the resistance against the Germans from his exile in London. Now it was time to return home from exile and to mentally thank his Belgian brother Karl for the generous gift: a master craftsmanship, born of blood, sweat and tears, which took an entire world war to finally fulfill its peaceful purpose to be able to: the great statesman, whose striking bust deserves to stand right next to Napoleon in the French Valhalla, to pursue the feathered and furred inhabitants of his liberated homeland in his meager free time. The manufacturer kindly confirmed to us based on his documents that the present weapon, serial number 43041, is number 2 of this pair. Not a gun, but a piece of history.

Category: Shotguns