Khyber Pass
I regret
to advise that your pistol is obviously a forgery, probably made by the Khyber
Pass copiers.
- The
pattern of the pistol is unknown. It wants to look like some Mauser, but has the
wrong muzzle ring and front sight (among other details).
- The
"official" post-1893 Belgian proofmarks are bogus: Underneath the letters ELG
inside the oval, there should be a five-point star, not a dot. Besides, that
mark is stamped on the wrong place and is doubled, which is not consistent with
the Liège proofhouse methods.
- Belgian
proofmarks always include a "crown over letter" stamp in the immediate vicinity
of the ELG* mark, which is the chief controller's initial. (before 1877, there
was a crown instead of a star above the initial)
- Same
remark for the "perron" (steps): wrong place and wrong shape.
- When
made in Belgium, a semi-automatic pistol should also bear the nitro-proof
stamps, which are a rampant lion over letters PV (poudre vive), generally
stamped on the right side of the barrel near the breech.
- The
text "Belgique Fabrique Belgique" is totally bogus. The right Liège address
should read "FABRIQUE NATIONALE D'ARMES DE GUERRE, HERSTAL BELGIQUE" and would
appear on the left side of the slide only.
- The
"MAUSER" logo is evidently a forgery as well, made by hand, and is stamped on
the wrong place as well.
- There
is a "crown over ?" stamped on different places, which is totally illegible and
inconsistent with any European maker's or official logo.
- The
very high "serial numbers" on the gun are completely ridiculous, and are also
different. They are supposed to indicate the number of guns made, and to my
modest knowledge, nobody in the world has produced millions of pistols of a
totally unknown pattern.
- The
other digits appearing here and there have no meaning at all.
- The
pistol features cheap and fair-colored bone grips, which does not match military
standards. Military pistols would feature black checkered wooden or bakelite
grips, the latter possibly showing the maker's logo.
Good news
is that your pistol gathers the largest number of forgeries I have seen so far
on one single gun. For that reason alone, it deserves a good place in any
collection.
Don't ask
me wether it can be fired safely.
Marcel
