Original Belgian "Versailles" Style Rifled Officer's Percussion Pistol marked EX on Lock and Barrel - Circa 1840 Manufacture Type_Original Items including some tears

including some tears

and would be read: SHOWA (current reigning emperor) Juu-Nana Nen (17th year of reign - 1942) 8th month (August)

At about 06:00 on 28 August

which are faint but definitely still legible with a magnifier:

The flag of Japan and the symbolism of the rising Sun has held symbolic meaning in Japan since the Asuka period (538–710 CE)

Original Belgian "Versailles" Style Rifled Officer's Percussion Pistol marked EX on Lock and Barrel - Circa 1840 Manufacture Type_Original Items including some tearsOriginal Item. Only One Available. This is a lovely Belgian made Officer's Pistol, made very much in the high end French style of the day, known as the "Versailles" style. Designed by famed gunsmith Nicolas Nol Boutet, this pattern pistols were very popular and extensively made for French Officers. This example was almost certainly made in Lige, Belgium, a gunmaking center even today, which had been under French and then Dutch control until the early