Proof House Markings

Marks of the Liège Proof House Found on the Belgian

# CAL. .44

# Perron

# Crown over R

# ELG

# Inspector Marks

#4079: proof marks of the period before Feb. 26, 1868

#12306: proof marks of the post Feb. 26, 1868 period. No more inspector marks, no crown over R on barrel lug

Typically the Liège Proof House had their acceptance marks stamped on the left side of barrel lug and frame, and on the rebated portion of the cylinder, or on the elevated forward areas of the chambers of pistols with fluted cylinder.

CAL. 44:

On most pistols throughout the production, embossed on the left side of the barrel lug, close to the wedge screw.

Perron:

Inspector mark for rifled barrels.

Looks like an arrow pointing to the right, or a palm tree sideways.

On the left side of barrel lug and frame throughout the production.

Crown over R (sideways):

Mark for rifled barrels 1884 through Feb. 26, 1968 (sideways).

Pistols made after February 1968 to 1973 do not have these marks.

On the left side of the barrel lug.

ELG over * in oval (sideways):

Final black powder proof.

Usually stamped on the rebated part of the cylinder throughout the production.

Inspector marks (below) are noted on Centaures from 1959 to early 1968 production. These marks are * over capital (mostly) letter C, D, F, H, K, L, q, R, S, T, U, Y or Z sideways:

Pistols made after February 1968 to 1973 do not have these marks because they were discontinued Feb. 26, 1968, but reintroduced only after 1973, after termination of the Centaure production.

They are to be found on the left side of barrel lug and frame, and close to the ELG oval on the cylinder. It was standard procedure that one inspector marked one pistol, i. e. the 3 inspector marks on a given Centaure are supposed to be identical.

Exception of the rule: A number of pistols in the survey with one of the two naval scenes on their cylinders have the same inspector mark on barrel lug and frame but their cylinders are stamped by a different inspector. Upon disassembly the serial number on the cylinder is usually not matching the gun. This indicates that an extra cylinder has been installed some years back.

Inspector Marks	Inspector Names	Years of Duty	Inspector Mark	Inspector Names	Years of Duty
*C	Deudonnè Francard	1959 - 1968	*R	Sylvain Wagemans	1951 - 1965
*D	Renè Marchal	1951 - 1968	*S	Charles Deanen	1952 - 1968
*F	???	1953 - 1968	*T	Clement Leanen	1952 - 1968
*H	Christophe Wolf	1938 - 1968	*U	Jacques Fuchs	1960 - 1968
*K	Walthere Delsaux	1929 - 1968	*Y	Francois Delsaux	1959 - 1968
*L	Antoine Salmon	1937 - 1968	*Z	Martin Luyten	1952 - 1968
*q	Gaspard Dewilde	1952 - 1968

Inspectors’ marks, names and years of duty discovered on Centaures are listed above. Their names were kept as a secret for many years but here you go…

And finally, please, don’t be surprised to stumble over irregularly applied proof marks from time to time, like the caliber .44 stamped upside down on Marshal Model #13402 pictured on the close-up on the right above.

WDN/November 20, 2009

Back