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Previous exhibitions were usually on the national level, but the Great Exhibition was a chance for the best of the best from around the world
to compete on the same stage. The French gunmakers, most especially Gastinne-Renette, regularly won top marks for the artistry of their deluxe arms. Meanwhile, American firms such as Colt, Winchester, and Smith & Wesson also created some of the most ornate firearms in U.S. history and captured the world’s attention with their innovative repeating arms. In 1851, Gastinne-Renette won a Prize Medal for “Guns, carabines, and pistols, of very good workmanship.”The reports were clearly written by a very understated author, likely a jealous Englishman, given only a few of the English makers received loftier praise. In “Forty-Two Year Scrapbook of Rare and Ancient Firearms” by F. Theodore Dexter on page 229 another pistol
is pictured from the exposition, and he wrote, “At the London Exposition,
Gastinne Renette Pistols carried off all honors, for being the best made and ornamented Pistol exhibited.”The basic design of these pistols follow the same basic form as many French dueling and target pistols from the era; they have rifled barrels, fine post and U-notch rear sights, ebony half-stocks, percussion locks, light trigger pulls, and spurred trigger guards. However, their ornamentation is far from standard. The pistols have intricate, highly sculpted Gothic architectural designs throughout as well as delicately shaped leaf designs. The designs on the tangs and standing breeches flow uninterrupted onto the breech plugs and barrels. The locks, trigger guards, triggers, side plates, and pommel caps have intricate pierced designs, and much of the decoration has finely textured backgrounds. The finer details are best seen rather than described. The undersides of the barrels are marked “:564:1849:” (A) and “:564:1851:”
(B), and the breech plugs have the sunken “crown/G.R” maker’s marks.
The subsequent pair (565) from the exhibition was also dual dated 1849 and 1851. The pistols have post and notch sights. The triggers have light pulls. The ebony stocks have relief and raised relief carving in floral and geometric designs. The ebony veneer case has an elaborately sculpted and pierced central escutcheon inscribed with an “MS” monogram. The inside of the lid is embossed and has “GASTINNE-RENETTE/A PARIS” in gilt letters, and the case is closely fitted and has a cleaning rod, loading rod, mallet, ball mold, nipple wrench, two turned containers (the larger carved to match the stocks), small engraved “G. & J. W. H./FIRE-PROOF” powder flask, and small measure.