Home Index Search Handguns Visual Selection British North American Italian German Belguim French Spanish Austrian Russian Czechoslovacian Turkish South African Hungarian Brazilian Israeli Competition Firearms Shotguns References Links Gunsite SAGA PAAA SAAACA Contact E-mail me!

The 1880s double action revolver was manufactured by Levaux in Belgium. The weapon hinges open and the frame and hinge lock is unusually shaped. The case extractor is different in that it is a plate with holes, to hold the cartridges, instead of the usual star other manufacturers used. From the Little Gun forum in Belgium we get some history for 3 Levaux designers: LEVAUX, Nicolas and Eugène RADELET Bd d'Avroy, 244 in Liège 1929- ? LEVAUX Dieudonné Patent n° 38.750 register in Liège on 26.01.1876. (Gun made by MERCENIER G) Dieudonné LEVAUX Patents: 28.279 of the 15/11/1870, 28.367 of the 31/01/1871, 38.750 of the 15/02/1876, 43.296 October 1877. LEVAUX Dieudonné (or Dieu Donné) was an inventor of complete gun designs, whose weapons were manufactured by various firms in Liège: G Mercenier, L Ancion-Marx... and others, which had sometimes the courtesy to acknowledge the name or the designer: D.D. Levaux Bté or D.D.L. Bté. Levaux firearms were generally revolvers with a different frame shape and typical catch for break-open with a recognizable extractor with disc. Certain arms manufacturers or famous merchants finished Levaux designs and put their name on the guns: Braendlin, Hughes in England, Bodeo E Carral in Italy, Ferran y Turdera in Argentina, A.D. Jansen in Brussels, etc... The weapons based on one or more of the 4 patents quoted above were an unquestionable international success lasting nearly 30 years. Dieudonné LEVAUX Revolver Dieudonné LEVAUX with central percussion and top break. This weapon was the subject of a patent filling the 15/02/1876 under the n° 38750 (see enclosures). The cylinder is with 8 sides with front sight in half-moon. The cylinder is a 6 shots. The gauge is not indicated on the weapon. The grips consists of two plates of walnut squared joined together by a central screw and two brass washers. This stick ends in a ring of cap and its screw-pivot. Punches The weapon carries the lawful punches of the proofhouse of LIEGE, namely: ELG* in a vertical oval: final acceptance, of use of 1846 to 1893. M spangled: countermark of the controller, of use of 1877 to 1968. These dates thus indicate a period of manufacture of 1877 to 1893. Marks This revolver carries the following marks: PATENT 455: mark attesting that the weapon is thus patented protected. 15546: serial number. Interlaced T.J (read so well?): this mark was completely unknown for me and my research is remained vain! Is call launched to the readers? Revolver LEVAUX was manufactured by several firms of Liège of which in particular ANCION-MARX and Jean-baptiste RONGé. Marks ND and GF in a rectangle read so well because the photographs are fuzzy are most probably marks of subcontractors. It is classified as an antique in the USA. (Ref. http://www.littlegun.be/arme%20belge/artisans%20identifies%20l/a%20levaux%20gb.htm

99342