Grandma's Pistol (Part 2)

Thanks so much to everyone who sent notes here and on Facebook.  I've had fun learning about this little pistol.

To summarize what I've learned.  This basic style is referred to as a velodog pistol.  The name is a combination of the words velocipede (old term for bicycle) and dog.  They were used to scare off dogs that tried to chase and attack bicyclists.  They were designed to fit comfortably in a gentleman's pocket while riding a bike, thus the folding trigger and enclosed hammer.

However, a true velodog revolver had an elongated cylinder, chambered for 5.5mm center fire rounds.  My grandmother's gun does not have this elongation.  thus it is more likely a later revolver in the same style, but intended for personal defense, not dogs.

Auguste Francotte was based in Liege, and produced firearms beginning in 1810 and was most active in the late 1800s and early 1900s. The company produced no less that 150 revolver styles by the end of the 1800s.

Click to see full size. 

Thanks again to all those who helped in my hunting.  It's been a fun adventure!

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• Grandma's Pistol

Grandma's Pistol

Hello world.  Long time no see.  The good news is my PhD should be complete within a month (knock on wood).  For the past 6 months I haven't really had a spare moment.  But now I have a quandry for the masses out there that know so much more than I.

My husband and I are down to visit family for the holidays and were talking firearms and such, as you do.  This afternoon, grandma brought down this little guy for us to check out.  It was brought back from Belgium by my grandfather after WWII.  She doesn't remember ever firing it.  She much prefers her .22

I'm hoping y'all can help us ID this little guy.  It's simply gorgeous!

No serial number we could find.  The markings say A. Francotte a Liege.  Which matches with origins in Belgium, but my googling is finding my mostly long guns and a few larger revolvers by Francotte.  Heck, I'm not even finding dates they manufactured.  Definite search failure for me.

So, can anyone tell us more about this little gun?  It's about 3.5 inches long, folding trigger, pearl grips...  I'll let you see the rest in the pictures.  Not the best, but it gives the basics.  I can take more or different pictures if they would be helpful.

  

KY History Museum: Part 3

These last two guns were unique in some way and didn't quite fot into the time line, so I thought I'd give them their own post.

First up, a pistol found during excavations at the old capitol building.  They have done several excavations of the privy areas and found quite a variety of items, including a woman's wedding ring.  This pistol was also found.
 

The one in the box, laying flat, is the actual found pistol.  The top, upright, on is a similar pistol to show what it should look like.





Next up is the cane gun!  This cane belonged to one of Kentucky's former governors.  It has a reed outer case and has a 28" barrel.  More info and a better picture can be found here.

  
And that concludes your photo tour of the firearms of the Ky History Museum.  I hope you've enjoyed the ride.  I highly recommend a visit if you are in the area and interested in history.  There's lots more to see than just the guns.  I'm sure husband and I will go back before long, if only to visit the Military History Museum.  Stay tuned!

KY History Museum: Part 2

The museum was designed to be very interactive, there were drawers to pull open to leanr more about certain artifacts or answer questions.  There were rooms set up to replicate buildings and camps and such from the time depicted.  I had quite a bit of fun checking corners and doors and drawers to be sure I didn't miss anything.  I was playing around like a kid!

These are som of the items I found in those hidden nooks.  Not as much info on the plaques about them, but I enjoyed the game of hide and seek.

KY History Museum: Part 1

The museum is laid out as a time line, and most of the weapons we was were in the first half or so.  My understanding is that the more modern firearms are housed in the Military museum.

My apologies in advance for the blurriness and bad light on some of these, taking pictures of things behind glass is not my forte.  Honestly I was surprised that no one ever came up and told me we couldn't take pictures.

If you want better pictures and more detail, plus items that weren't on display, you can search the museum's object collection here.

Spur of the Moment Trip

Sorry for the unscheduled break.  Research has had me  a bit crazy.  I had a week at work that required two overnight at the farm with my steers.  Thus, I gave myself a half-day this past Friday.  I had to run out to the farm briefly and the husband offered to keep my company.  Since we were half way there, we opted to head into Frankfort and do something touristy.  No real plan, just whatever looked interesting.  On the way in we passed a sign for the Center for Kentucky History.  "Well," we said to ourselves "we like history, let's see what that's about."


Good call.  For a mere $3 each we spent more than 3 hours wandering around a very well done series of exhibits depicting aspects of life and history in Kentucky from prehistoric time to the modern day.  We even got a guided tour of the Old State Capitol building.  I didn't even know there was an old and new capitol before the tour. 

The Old Capitol Building.  Built in the 1820 in the same location as two previous capitol building which burned.  The building was used as the state capitol until 1910.  It has a free standing stone staircase in the center, an amazing piece of architecture!

This was the architects first ever building and he did a fabulous job.  I somehow failed to get a picture of the freestanding staircase, but suffice to say it was amazing and cool!  The prison warden at the time invented a steam powered saw to precisely cut the stone for it.

Picture from KY Division of Historic Properties (http://historicproperties.ky.gov/)

 

What you may be asking yourself does this have to do with shooting?  Well, nothing really.  But the history exhibits did include several firearms, and I got pictures to share!  The old me would have looked at the guns and moved on to "more exciting" things.  But this time I found myself reading about them and looking more closely.  I still don't know all the ins and outs of the differences, especially in the old flintlocks that were there.  But they were fun to see.  


Pictures to come in the following few days as I get them sorted and sized.  I took quite a few!

Also, consider this fair warning that I ma disappear again next week as I have more overnight stays at the farm.  Woo!




Our admission also included access to the Military History Museum, but we just ran out of time.  We will definitely be back to see that though.  Well worth paying $6 again if it's half as good as what we saw this time!