136 - A very beautiful Vendémiaire Year XII-style general’s flintlock pistol, but much more luxurious, by

A very beautiful Vendémiaire Year XII-style general’s flintlock pistol, but much more luxurious, by Freconnet Roules in Saint-Étienne: Blued octagonal barrel, slightly flared, stamped on the left side: “A M” with crowns, gilded at the breech and muzzle, upper side adorned with a caduceus featuring two cornucopias, silver front sight, sight hole fitted with a platinum insert, length 20.2 cm, 17.5 mm caliber with fine rifling; cut-away breech, finely engraved with foliage and a swan in a medallion; attractive iron sight chiseled in the round with foliage; flat-bodied trigger guard, lightly engraved on the back, signed: “Freconnet Roules à St-Étienne,” swan-neck trigger engraved with a dragon holding a cornucopia in its mouth and fitted with a safety catch at the rear, scroll-shaped trigger guard also plated with platinum, trigger assembly engraved as a continuous design, adjustable trigger; cut and engraved silver mountings; trigger guard engraved with flowers, foliage, and a bat-like winged creature; fore-end engraved with a flower-adorned urn; the stock tenon chiseled with a monster’s head and, at the rear, a swan in a medallion; silver rosettes, the main one engraved with two lions standing back-to-back; an oval, two-sided cap chiseled with a Medusa head; walnut stock very finely carved along all edges, checkered grip surrounded by the same decoration, small rectangular gold thumb rest with beveled edges; fan-shaped handle with a bone pommel; total length 35.5 cm. Early Empire period. Very good condition. HALLMARKS: rooster (1st departmental standard), 1809/1819; medium hallmark, helmeted man’s head; goldsmith: “P” between two stars and surmounted by a circle; lictor’s fasces, 1809/1819. FRECONNET ROULES, arquebusier in Saint-Étienne, May 1, 1775, son of the arms dealer André JACQUES and Antoinette BOURLIER. On the 9th of Brumaire, Year IV, he married Jeanne, the daughter of the gunsmith Jean ROULES (or ROULE). Manufacturer of luxury firearms, such as the pair of pistols seized from Napoleon I at Waterloo (see the Army Museum). This pistol is identical to the one on display; the only difference lies in the design on the cap—the Emperor’s is adorned with a crowned eagle.