Napoleon's Double Fowler

[hawkeye1755]

This elaborately engraved 20 gauge flintlock double fowler, made by the noted gunsmith Fatou of Paris, bears extensive gold and silver embellishments and is fitted with a purple velvet cheekpiece. Fatou is known to have worked as a gunsmith in Paris from 1780 to 1830 and produced many notable arms.This double fowler has gold-plated flashpans to mitigate corrosion from firing blackpowder and is inlaid with extensive gold and silver wire inlays, as well as silver accent points fitted into the checkering. While a finely-finished double, this smoothbore also shows evidence of having been fired in its[url] history.Made[/url] for Napoleon circa 1804, this shotgun was then presented by him to Count Jean Baptiste Jourdan, Marquis Faulte de Vanteaux of Limoges, one of twenty-six marshals appointed for Napoleon's army. Elements of the heraldic coat of arms awarded by Napoleon to his marshal form the engraving details for this piece. As part of the National Firearms Museum collection, this elegant shotgun is on daily exhibition as part of the "Regal Guns of Royal Houses" display.

National Firearms Museum
11250 Waples Mill Road
Fairfax, Virginia 22030

:hatsoff:

 

[rabjr]

Gorgeous! :bow:

 

[RickD]

To pretty to shoot

 

[oldarmy]

Are you kidding me...
where are the birds????

 

[Dave K]

Ah, ha, looks like leather holding those flints in! They weren't using no lead for that. Just seeing if I can make this thread 5 pages long :grin: . Nice gun, what more can be said!

 

[Leonredbeard]

Thank you so much UT for posting that. I nearly swallowed my teeth. :bull: And they are still fast in my own jaws. :shocked2: Hee! Hee! :hatsoff:
volatpluvia :bow:

 

[Mike Brooks]

Ha! Boney Parts must have been quite a Pimp! :rotf:

 

[hawkeye1755]

To pretty to shoot

There is nothing to pretty to shoot. :grin:
When someone will visiting the NFM in Fairfax, please make some pics.It's the only one i have.
:hatsoff:

 

[mbritt]

Awesome. :bow:
Must be one of the most beautiful shotguns ever made. Why do the "gold-plated flashpans" look like steel instead of gold color?

 

Pretty---hmmmmm, those look like English flints in the Frenchman's gun?

 

[Titus]

STUNNING!!!!! :shocked2:

 

[paulvallandigham]

Does anybody actually believe that those leather wraps or flints are 200 years old?

 

[Russ T Frizzen]

Paul, are you saying that Napoleon didn't put them there himself? There goes the last of my illusions...

 

[paulvallandigham]

:shocked2: :grin: :thumbsup:

 

Does anybody actually believe that those leather wraps or flints are 200 years old?

Nope. Actually the flints are probably nearly 100 million years old. :blah: Unsure of when they were knapped. Just thought it strange that someone would put English flints in a fine old French gun...

 

[hawkeye1755]

Does anybody actually believe that those leather wraps or flints are 200 years old?

Nope. Actually the flints are probably nearly 100 million years old. :blah: Unsure of when they were knapped. Just thought it strange that someone would put English flints in a fine old French gun...

:haha:
Perhaps they didn't have french flints in Virgina. :hmm:
:hatsoff:

 

[rabjr]

See who these guns were made for? Those flints could have been war booty! And it could have ment something being used here. Just a thought....

 

[Wes/Tex]

Does anybody actually believe that those leather wraps or flints are 200 years old?

...and he made the soldiers use lead! :haha:

Doesn't look like he had time to shoot it much...wonder why? :rotf: