Anyone collect these lilliputian foreigners?

bdGreen

bdGreen

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I acquired this little strange duck and am currently trying to investigate it's heritage.

As you can see in the pictures it is a:

Pistolet Automatique Jieffeco Depose

Brevets 259178-265491 - Liege - Belgium

It is chambered for the .25 acp cartridge or 6.35 mm if you will.

It is in really rough condition, but, it appears to all be there except someone fabbed a 'homemade' left grip panel. I actually believe it's a piece of clam shell. The inside looks natural, the outside looks bubba'd. It's actually supposed to have a cut out for the safety lever. Bubba must have forgot that little feature.

Anyway, it cocks and fires when the trigger is pulled.

Would like to hear from anyone that may like to contribute to this thread regarding this pipsqueak.
I have posted these pics on another Forum, (just this evening), so I am waiting for some more input.

It is serial number 46900, stamped on the slide and the frame.

Let me know what you have to say on this.

Thanx,

bdGreen












 
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The rear sight is the TD latch to the pistol. Unique to these as far as I can remember.
...Maybe one of the little Bayard pistols used a similar latch system.

These were also marked 'Melior'
Made by H (?). Robar and Co in Liege.
I had one of those in .25cal Nice condition. My brother ended up with it to replace a Baby Bernardelli 25 that jammed alot. The Melior shots like a champ and it is his mouse carry gun. Has been for probably 20yrs now.
There were 2 sizes of the 25auto,,small, and smaller.

Belgian make obviously. Here's some good info on them
Nouvelle page 0

Added:

Somemore of the story:
Nouvelle page 0

The pistol itself was the invention of Henry(i) Rosier.
His 'mark' may be on the pistol somewhere , even under a grip. Should be Crown/HR inside and Oval

Rosier licensed Janssen, Son & Co of Liege to make the pistol at first.
That is one of what you have.
Janssens's logo JF&Co (Janssen, Fils &Co is on the grip panel.
These pistols were sold as 'JIEFFECO' brand pistols.
The brand name is some sort of a play on the company name.

They made them in 32cal also.
This was before WW1.

Just before WW1, and I may have some of this wrong, Rosier designed a 'New Model 25auto'.
AFAI can determine, this new pistol was actually mfgd by Janssen for a short time before WW1 started. ( I think this is what you have)
FWIW, this pistol considered for import into the USA under a Davis-Warner brand name. That never came to be as D/W went out of biz after WW1.

But after WW1, Henri Rosier decided to license the rights to make the New Model 25 to another company,,,Robar & Cie in Liege.
Robar & Cie also made the 32cal and later a 380.

These Robar & Son mfg pistols carry the 'Melior' model branding.
The Melior brand pistols often have grips with Robar & Cie logo in them plus 'Belgium'.
Two different Liege mgr's making the same pistols under Henri Rosier's patent.
 
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Around here somewhere I have Smith’s Book of Pistols and Revolvers.
As I recall, that book has page after page of photos of Small mostly European Autos.
Many brands that I never heard of or saw.
 
I have garnered some information on this one.

So far, word has it that it is a 1921 manufacture.

Happy Birthday!:D

I figured out how to take the slide off and the barrel out.

The engineering design to do that is a wonderment for the period these were built.

Simple and quick.

Am waiting to hear back on the internals that I photographed for a gentleman. He requested an image to define the machine work on the frame without the slide.

He noted that this is a rare piece.

In the world of European guns I don't really know what that means. S&W's I do.:)

The rear sight assembly IS actually the TakeDown lever to remove the bolt and slide. How clever.

Here a a few more pictures of the internals.

enjoy,
bdGreen







 
At least the OP can ID where his gun was made. My 25ACP Ruby shows nothing but a serial number.
 
Did someone have a ser# range/mfg date base to get a yr/mfg?
There's no Date code, they didn't start use till 1922.

The Janssen mfg pistols (Jieffeco) in 25 could be from 1913/14 when they were first designed and a few actually made before WW1 stopped production.
After ww1 Janssen made them again starting in ?? (1919 or '20?)
Anything made and proofed in 1922 and after would have a Proof Date code. ('a' for 1922).

Robar also started making the same pistol under licensing from the designer just after WW1, but theirs were model marked 'Melior' and the grip logo 'Rco'

They are interesting little guns. Unique in a few ways for sure.
 
I am getting a bit more input, piece by piece, from a gentleman that is about to release a publication on these Jieffeco Pistols.

Here are some of the words from our communications.

bdGreen ,
Yes, of course I will tell you the time of manufacture .
This is the beginning of 1921 approximately.
I will be glad if you show me this Jieffeco pistol of yours .
I have written two articles about these pistols and now these articles are edited by Ed Buffaloe .
These two articles will be published on the website of Ed in about two weeks .
You will be able to learn a lot .



bdGreen,
Thank you so much for showing me this Jieffeco pistol .
This is a very rare collectible piece .
.For the entire time of the study, this is only the fifth pistol with such an inscription on the slide .
Do not be shy about its appearance, it is really rare .
Beautiful photos .

As you can see, I need to research this little gem as best I can.

I haven't inquired about value as I am really more interested in the history and total provenance of this Jieffeco Pistol Automatique.

bdGreen
 
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