The Victoria and Albert museum’s 1969 catalogue and collection entry opined for half a century, that “Aubron” was not a gunmaker, likely a retailer based in Étienne. The clearly didn’t have or didn’t read Eugene Heer’s Der Neue Støkel or the French reference work Le “Qui est qui” de l’arme en France, both of which record the Aubrons as a family of gunmakers based in Clissons, Nantes. The entry has since been updated to give the Aubrons the recognition they deserve.

These superb presentation pocket pistols were made by Jean Aubron (1771-1818).

These pistols belong in the Super Deluxe class of presentation pistols and are at least the equal of anything from the top Paris gunsmiths.

The breaches are signed in full “Aubron A Nantes”.

The safety mechanism, which locks the frizzen closed and the hammer at half cock, is operated by a button, as found on the best Paris-made presentation pocket pistols.

The top-jaw is decorated with deeply chiselled foliage on a grooved background, the cock with an angry-looking fish.

The frizzen pivot screw is fully engraved, the pivot is chiselled in the fashion of a flower in bloom.

Three stars set on a Pointillé background adorn both sides of the pan.

The frizzens carry a spray of foliage.

The concealed drop-down trigger, underframe and tang are finely and deeply engraved with an urn, sunburst, and flowers. The retracted trigger is almost undetectable, the fit is as good as anything produced by a modern CNC mill.

Each lock-face carries a different scene comprising a winged cherub in various pursuits with his dog and mythical creatures. Whilst engravings of mythical creatures are not unusual on pocket pistols, they usually follow a distinct theme, these are more whimsical in nature and perhaps unique to Aubron.

The stocks have round to oval pommels as found on many French full-size pistols, but rarely on pocket pistols. The carved detail, in two layers, is highly detailed requiring a magnifying glass to appreciate the fineness. The back of each stock is adorned with fifteen silver nails and a vacant silver shield. The body of the stocks are carved with a fine fish-scale pattern and shells. The pommels are silver castings of a rather bemused lion’s head, further adding to the whimsical theme of these unusual, rare, and beautiful pistils. There are some marks on the frizzens but the pistols appear to be unfired.