FIREARMS. Flintlock marine pistol model 1779 1st type, walnut frame with brass fittings, round barrel with flat thunderbolt hallmarked by the controller "PM" under crown and "78" for 1778, round-bodied lock trimmed in the front part and signed inside by the master lockmaker B. RAPAY, with inverted spring whose shape follows the roundness of the brass pan, hallmarked "R" under crown indicating the controller Claude-Joseph ROUILL and engraved "R" under crown indicating the controller Claude-Joseph ROUILL. RAPAY, with inverted spring shaped to match the rounded brass bassoon, hallmarked "R" under crown indicating the controller Claude-Joseph ROUILLARD and engraved "Me Rle de Tulle", counterplate with iron belt hook which masks on the frame a clear hallmark "MR" under fleur-de-lys, brass cap, trigger guard and mouthpiece, the last two hallmarked with fleur-de-lys, iron ramrod to model. L: 34 cm, barrel: 19 cm. Surface oxidation in places, pitting. ABE Jean Boudriot cites in his famous work "Armes à feu françaises", volume 2, the existence of a variant of placement of the battery spring for this pistol which he specifies "...is not a modification, the engraving of the lock being carried out by taking account of the location of the spring, this provision is thus of origin".