Pair of flintlock pistols commissioned by Emperor Napoleon I for his personal use, by the gunsmith Lepage, First Empire, 1811-1814. From the Philippe Missillier Collection, studied at Giquello Auction House, Auction at Drouot - rooms 5-6, on March 6 & 7, 2025.

PHILIPPE MISSILLIER COLLECTION
EARLY PERIOD – BOOKS – 17TH CENTURY FIREARMS
HUNTING ART – PHALERISTICS
18TH AND 19TH CENTURY WEAPONS – RUSSIAN ART
Friday, March 7, 2025 - 11am to 12pm
AFRICA AND OCEANIA – FAR EAST
Friday, March 7, 2025 - 2pm
ISLAMIC AND INDIAN ART
Drouot - rooms 5-6

EXHIBITION
Tuesday, March 4 from 11am to 6pm
Wednesday, March 5 from 11am to 6pm
Thursday, March 6 from 11am to 12pm
Phone during the exhibition +33(0)1 48 00 20 05

GIQUELLO
Alexandre Giquello
Violette Stcherbatcheff
5, rue La Boétie - 75008 Paris
+33 (0)1 47 42 78 01 - info@giquello.net
Subject to approval
No. 2002 389

CONTACT
Claire Richon
+33(0)1 47 70 48 00
c.richon@giquello.net

EXPERT
Bertrand Malvaux, CNES

Lot No. 233 (from the sale)
Pair of flintlock pistols ordered by Emperor Napoleon I for his personal use from the gunsmith Lepage, First Empire, 1811-1814.

Pistols in the staff model. Octagonal browned barrels, hair rifling, slightly flared at the muzzle bearing a barleycorn silver front sight, fixed rear sights, set on the stock by two draw pins. The barrels are engraved in cursive letters on the left flats "Le Page a Paris", on the top flats "231.", and on the right flats "Emperor's Armorer". Length 21.5 cm, diameter 1.72 cm, length with breech tangs 26.8 cm. Under the barrels: "JR" in crowned oval poinçon, mark of Jean-François Renette, gunsmith in Paris, circa 1780/1811, "N°1351" poinçon of Jean-François Renette, and the date "A.1811".
Flat lockplates and flat-bodied cocks, lockplates signed "Le Page A Paris", top jaws of cocks engraved "321". Lockplates similarly numbered and dated on their inner sides as below the barrels. Long walnut shafts, finely checkered inclined grips. Steel mounts with scalloped edges, including trigger guards, two-piece side plates, oval flat butt caps, ramrod pipes. Wooden ramrods with gilt brass fittings.
Overall length: 36.5 cm.
France.
First Empire (1811-1814).
Very good condition. Barrels with restored color, minor restorations to one cock and mounts, later ramrods.
40000/80000
Provenance: Former Marsan collection.
Pair of pistols that were part of the exhibition "When Bonaparte became Napoleon" in Wasquehal from January 31 to February 22, 2004. Exhibition curator Bernard Croissy 2004, p., cat. 51, ill.
Note: The handwritten order and delivery book of the Maison Le Page mentions this pair of pistols as part of a delivery to Emperor Napoleon I on January 2, 1812, of six pairs at the unit price of 260 francs, with specific numbers:
“Jan. 2, 1812 S. M. the Emperor (…) 6 pres pist of Caliber Caps steel 1340 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 50 - 51 at 260”. The pistols from this order, following the ordinance model according to the regulations of the 1st Vendémiaire An XII, were likely intended to be placed in the Emperor’s carriages. They likely accompanied the Emperor on his campaign in Russia in 1812. Mr. Bernard Croissy mentions in his catalog that seven other pairs of pistols were delivered in February 1812, of the Vendémiaire An XII model for general officers.
Known objects:
Three pairs of this model are currently known, all in private collections. The pair presented here, one in a private collection, and a third identical pair from the same imperial order from the former Laissus collection, was presented on November 7, 2013, by Mr. Bernard Croissy, lot 107 at Maître Thierry de Maigret at the Hôtel Drouot, it bears the number 247 engraved on the barrels and “N. 1351” under the barrels.