Description

This red-patterned inner box was originally part of a 100-round “brick” of 12mm pinfire cartridges manufactured by Gévelot in the mid-1850s. Though unmarked externally, it was once wrapped in a now-rare brown paper label specifically noting “Revolver E. Lefaucheux”—a detail unique to this early production run. Later boxes from Gévelot and others dropped Eugène’s name, referring only to “Lefaucheux,” making this labeling historically significant as it signals the cartridge’s exclusive compatibility with Eugène Lefaucheux’s newly introduced 1854 revolver—not earlier designs by Casimir Lefaucheux.

These cartridges are further distinguished by a “G” stamped into the bullet tip, denoting Gévelot’s compressed lead technology. For more on their historical footprint, check out this article documenting the excavation of hundreds of identical Gévelot cartridges at a single Civil War encampment in Rolla, Missouri—evidence of their transatlantic use and military deployment.