The firm originated around 1812 and was cemented by the marriage of Louis-Julien Gastinne and Joséphine Adèle Renette, son and daughter of the founders of the firm. By the second half of the 19th century, they were the premiere source for dueling pistols in Paris. They even rented sets like this and trained duelists how to use them effectively. They manufactured high end firearms for Napoleon III, the King of Spain, Annie Oakley, and many other notable figures. While dueling has mostly faded into obscurity in England and the U.S. by the time these were made, pistol and sword duels in France and other areas of Continental Europe continued into the 20th century though fatal duels with pistols became rarer as time went on. The French and other Continental Europeans considered rifling to be proper when pistols were the weapons of choice, especially as rifling became more common in general by the mid-19th century. This pair has rifled barrels with dovetailed round blade front sights and "Fni par Gastinne Renette a Paris" in Gothic script on top. The breech plugs and upper tangs have gold inlaid "1" and "2"s respectively, and the latter have fixed u-notch rear sights for fast aiming. They are equipped with plain triggers with light pull weights and hooked trigger guards to help steady the aim. The furniture aside from the barrels is engraved with tight scroll and border patterns. The stocks have finely checkered wrists with carved borders. They come in an oak case with an old label on the front indicating they were sold in 1890, "GASTINNE-RENETTE/PARIS" in gold lettering on the inside of the lid, and a French fitted interior containing a small measure, cap container, patches, mallet, bullet mold, nipple wrench, screwdriver, wooden containers with spare nipples and lead balls, ramrod, and a cleaning rod.

As described in A.