LEPAGE, EMPEROR'S HARQUEBUSIER Officer's pistol case in light walnut sheathed in green and red morocco, decorated with gold on the iron, with one compartment. It contains : A rare pair of percussion pistols with mercury fulminate pellets. Damascus rifled barrels, signed in gold "LEPAGE à PARIS ARQer DE L'EMPEREUR". Lock plates signed in a gold oval "LE PAGE" within a laurel wreath and flat-bodied hammers engraved with foliate scrolls. Adjustable screw triggers. Finger rests engraved with urns and line-decorated. Iron caps engraved with a laurel wreath, rimmed with ebony carved with foliage. Squared crossbars (one crack in the squaring) and short shafts in fine marbled walnut. Gun length: 36.5 cm With accessories: mallet, oiler, measuring cup, bullet mold, powder flask, screwdriver, fulminate capsule dispenser, cleaning rod, and tamping rod. With key. Dated and numbered in the locks, under the barrels and on the breech plugs "A 1812" and "N°64". Our set is of particularly early manufacture. Good condition (minor wear to the case). First Empire period (1812). Historical background: The invention of Scottish clergyman Alexander John FORSYTH (1768-1843), fed up with the slowness of flintlock shotguns on his hunts, was to revolutionize the world of firearms. By using the detonating properties of mercury fulminate (known to chemists since the 17th century) in place of black powder and creating a complex system of mercury fulminate pill reservoirs which, combined with a shutter hammer, enabled detonation to be transmitted into the barrel light, around 1808. At the same time, Jean Le Page, Emperor Napoleon I's harquebusier, also developed a similar lock using the properties of mercury fulminate from 1810 onwards, and began producing boxed pistols (like ours) and rifles. The system was quickly copied in Europe (mainly for hunting guns, as it was faster but less robust than flintlock), but only for a short time, until 1820.