Can anyone help me identify this relic?

[Konajay]

I've had this stored away in my gun safe for several years now and I'm just now getting around to trying to identify who manufactured it and approximate year it was made. Can anyone identify the markings? Thanks in advance.

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[No_Regerts]

Looks like a Noisy Cricket

 

[GOG]

I love a good mystery so good luck. It's always fun to figure out this stuff.

 

[BillM]

Appears you have a bit of a rare one. Armand Gavage semi auto pistol. Made in Belgium. Yours does appear to have the German stamps, and those are supposed
to be around 1,500 wartime production. Do a search--you might be surprised what these have brought at auction!

 

[Konajay]

Thanks, sounds promising!

 

[Kruel J]

Looks like a Noisy Cricket

Now that's what I'm talking about!

 

[Mikej]

This is cool...
Pistolen der deutschen Wehrmacht

Rock Island Auction: Rare Belgian Armand Gavage Semi-Automatic Pistol

I expect @tac would have some info on this.

 

[Konajay]

Thanks for the links!

 

[tac]

View attachment 487164I've had this stored away in my gun safe for several years now and I'm just now getting around to trying to identify who manufactured it and approximate year it was made. Can anyone identify the markings? Thanks in advance.

This little pistol was made by the little Belgian company with the HUGE name - Fabrique d'Armes d Guerre de Haute Précision Armand Gavage, of Liége, Belgium. It was a VERY small company which, in the late 1930s, began rpoduction of a small 'Clement'-style pistol. The calibre wasconly in 7.65mm - .32ACP to you guys. Small-scale productionseems to have continued after the beginning of the German occupation, well into 1940, and a few have been found with waffenampt stamps [stick eagle to the cognoscenti], maybe with 603 underneath. This was most likely a local purchase only, since they do not appear in any official list of approved handguns for the 3rd Reich.

Apart from that, I can't help you. Living here in yUK means that I have no access to one, nor any likelihood of it ever happening. Sorry.

tac

 

[Konajay]

I appreciate the information tac & Mikej. Gives me a good starting point. I'll post more pics in the coming days. I took this one to document the serial number for insurance reasons a few weeks back. Got me thinking that I need to learn more about it.

 

[11Charlie]

@Medic! would be good one to ask as well.

 

[tac]

I appreciate the information tac & Mikej. Gives me a good starting point. I'll post more pics in the coming days. I took this one to document the serial number for insurance reasons a few weeks back. Got me thinking that I need to learn more about it.

Put in a value based on the RIA Auction site figures, since I can't find it in my copy of the Blue Book, and you won't be far out. To tell the truth there isn't a whole lot to tell, since the how it got to you and where it has been are open to conjecture. Guess you have no bring-back papers, right?

Since Belgian law requires all firearms made there to be proofed, I'd expect the usual crowned cartouche ELG over star [Épreuve Liége - the Liége proof house] a couple of letters with a crown over the top [inspection stamps any letter of the alphabet], a little stamp that looks like Nelson's Column in London [the Perron, a famous landmark, and a right-facing rampant lion over PV - definitive nitro proof for ALL firearms.

tac

 

[Konajay]

I know nothing (using my best Sgt. Shultz imitation...)

All jokes aside, I purchased it from my father-in-law when he was liquidating his collection many years ago. I need to ask him more about it. The tag attached to it is from when he checked it on an airline.