This is an excellent example of a scarce French commercial contract 1896 pistol with the hard rubber grips with the "MW" monogram in a shield. The rear sight is graduated from 50 to 500. The export mark "GERMANY" is engraved in the front panel on the right side. There is no contract number under the rear sight and while these have been called the "French Gendarme" pistol for years, no documentation has ever been found to verify this. These are found in the 430,000 to 434,000 serial number range. It has the standard Mauser markings on top of the chamber and right rear of the frame with "crown / "U" on the left front of the frame and on top of the bolt handle. The backstrap is cut for a stock and there is a lanyard ring on the butt. This pistol is from the Randall Gibson collection.