FLACHAT Fils Aîné / MERLEY-DELMONT Jean Baptiste
FLACHAT Fils Aîné / MERLEY-DELMONT Jean Baptiste
Shotgun
with juxtaposed barrels, caliber 14 (with sling rings).
Percussion system, muzzle loading.
Total
length 1095 mm.
DAMAS
barrels, length 675 mm with chimney ramparts.
(1 key,
double rod loop)
Rear
plates decorated with finely engraved arabesques.
Dogs and
trigger guard decorated with finely engraved arabesques.
Metal
buttplate.
"English" stock in burl walnut.
Whalebone loading rod with brass and steel tips.
MARKING:
: "Ante
feritquamflammamicet"
Under
right barrel: "17", - crowned control mark, and "34" in oval imprint, crowned B
under thunder.
On the
right plate, circular inscription around the axis of the hammer "FNI PAR LEPAGE
MOUTIER".
On the
left plate, circular inscription around the axis of the hammer "ARQER DU ROI &
DES PRINCES PARIS".
Under
left barrel: MERLEY DELMONT. (See attached extract from Der NeuStockel)
Under
the barrel connecting band "JNE FLACHAT FILS AINE. (See list of Flachat in Der
Neue stockel)
On the
barrel junction band, acid engraving "Ante feritquamflamatmicet" between
arabesques. (motto whose translation is: He STRIKES BEFORE THE FLAME SHINES.
Google
tells us that this motto belongs to the order of the knights of the golden
fleece!?
But what
does this maxim mean???
He STRIKES BEFORE THE FLAME SHINES, following the
collar of the Golden Fleece the symbol is a "rifle" that is to say in old French
a lighter, a piece of iron which, beaten against a flint allowed to create fire.
Naturally the word rifle was then adapted to become a weapon. It is natural that
a gunsmith doubtless keen on history seizes this symbol.
In the etymological sense this means that the knight
only strikes if provoked. He will strike at the slightest provocation before it
becomes brilliant. This applies to any blasphemy or against knightly honor.
For a firearm this translates to an instantaneous
blow..
......For the historical aspect of the motto of the
golden fleece
It itself is composed of a
beautiful golden fleece, which can be found around the necks of the Good and the
Bold on all their portraits, but also of lighters and stones illustrating the
motto of the order: Ante FeritQuamFlammaMicet (He strikes before the flame
shines), and in which we find two crossed B's, showing the sovereignty of the
duke over the two Burgundies (the duchy and the county, today Franche-Comté,
that should finish convincing our comrades from Franche-Comté to join our
ranks).
Apart from Latin, we must
understand ancient Italian - I specify "fugile soit silex" hence the name of the
"Fusil" currently we speak of Briquet à pierre (flint) it strikes before the
flame or light springs up
As a Burgundian Bold would
say ....
(Les Françoys n'ont guère le sang froy").(Untranslatable!!)
Below an old lighter
ANTE FERIT QUAM FLAMMA MICET.
|
Flint Lighter or "Rifle" ("Fusil")
Photo 3
Photo 4
Photos 3 and
4
of the illustrations of "Briquet" found during the excavation.
Photo 8 : (In old French)
L'ont vois superbement bien les "Briquets Bourguignon" entrelacésavec les
flammes du choc du Silex (Fusil)
@glt08
