Flintlock rifle, two-register barrel, fluted then round, blu - Lot 211

Flintlock rifle, two-register barrel, fluted then round, blued, engraved and gilded with thunderbolt and signed on the upper side: "CASSAN NAUTRE À CHARLEVILLE - CANON TORDU", length 61 cm, caliber 14 mm; round-bodied lock, swan-neck hammer, signed under the battery spring: "CASSAN NAUTRE - À CHARLEVILLE"; cut-out and engraved iron fittings; carved, cheeked walnut stock; iron ramrod; overall length 101 cm. Late 18th century, First Empire. Good condition, needs cleaning. CASSAN, controller at the Manufacture de Charleville, was appointed first controller (finished arms and locks) in 1759, then dismissed in 1777. He also modified Bourdier's rifle in the workshops of the Manufacture de Vincennes, where he was controller. He then worked as a harquebusier from 1778 to 1790; there were other CASSANs in later years, such as "young CASSAN", who presented a rifle of his own invention to the Paris Arms Committee on September 8, 1793. NAUTRE, controller of locks at the Charlevilles factory from 1772 to 1777. He was CASSAN's nephew and succeeded Alexandre in 1772, before being dismissed in 1777.