the Galand 2-Barrel Rolling Block

This big rolling block pistol is similar in size to the Galand 2-Barrel Rolling Blocks that were manufactured in Belgium under license from Remington and used by the Belgian Police up until past the beginning of the 20th century.

Any of these 2-barrel rolling blocks manufactured in Belgium in the late 19th century, and stamped with the Liege proof, were guaranteed to be quality, tough handguns – this both by their design (the rolling blocks were always solid machines) and by the fine workmanship that the Belgian makers brought to their craft.

Belgium did turn out more guns than any other European country in the 19th century, but that didn’t make Belgian stuff cheap, as some think today. Any Liege-proofed piece made in Belgium at that time, inspected and stamped at the Liege proof house, had to be a quality piece or it wouldn’t pass muster.

Each chamber on these “proofed” guns had to be proved 4 times by firing a double load. No other European country demanded that kind of excellence.

THE GUN: The barrels on this pistol measure 6-5/8 inches (168mm), and its overall length is 10-5/16 (263mm). For size comparison we have shown this pistol with a Smith & Wesson 1st Model DA Revolver in 44 Russian. Neither the S&W nor the cartridges shown are for sale with this auction.

Both actions work well, and it locks up tight. There is good rifling with some minor pitting especially towards front of bores.
The original nickel is only about 15-20% with large areas of patina interspersed with spots of surface roughness and a bit of minor surface pitting on the barrel. There is some minor factory engraving which is still clear if not plentiful.

The grips are in fair shape with some wear and quite a few dings, especially on the right grip. They are whole and do maintain most of their original checkered pattern.

THESE ARE THE MARKS
- on frame under right grip: TT&C (Theate Freres),
under the barrels: 10.8, star/R, 1852 Black Powder proof, crown/R, AI?, Peron, and the post-1893 Liege proof.

MORE ON THE .450 ADAMS: The .450 was the forerunner of the .455 Webley round, and it was in use in South America right up into the 20th century. I have seen these pistols shooting reloads with cut-down cases from Colt 45 Long cartridges (be sure to get this checked out by a qualified gunsmith before ever shooting it, and remember it was designed for black powder loads).

NOTE ON THE THEATE COMPANY - Theate T. & Co. was the fourth stage in the development of the Lambin-Theate gun makers that began with Leon Lambin in 1862 and ends with the selling off of the E. A. Theate & Co. in 1965. In 1894 the Theate T. & Co. (TT&C mark) took over the business from the Lambin & Theate Co. (L&T). From the period advertisement included with the photos you can see that the L&T stage of the business was advertising its goods right along with the later TT&C stage.