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The Robar & de Kerckhove
Melior and Jieffeco Pistols,
Model 1907 & 1911
by Vaclav Vriesen and Ed Buffaloe
Fabricant Jean Louis Joseph Robar was born in 1858. His father Jean Louis Robar was a baker, and his mother, Lambertine Bovy, was engaged in trade. Early in his career, Jean Louis Joseph Robar was a grain
merchant but later became a rentier, i.e., a person who makes his living from property and/or investments, like his grandfather. He was married to Marie Isabelle Selerin, daughter of the Liege gunsmith Jean Francois Selerin.
In the early 1900s, Jean Louis Joseph Robar, together with his son Louis Servais Hubert Robar and the industrialist Adrien Marie Joseph Ghislain Louis de Kerckhove (1879-1958) of Vechmael, Belgium created the
Robar Fils & Co. gun factory. Louis de Kerckhove was not only a business partner but also a family friend. Henry Joseph Rosier, of Herstal, Belgium, was invited to work for the company as an engineer-inventor.
Robar Fils & Co. was located at 29 Rue Chéri in Liège. Louis Servais Hubert Robar himself lived at 30 Rue Chéri, opposite Charles Clement's house at 37 Rue Chéri. Robar and Clement saw each other every
day and it is clear that their communication greatly influenced their professional lives.
The Robar Fils & Co. arms factory was registered at the Liege proof house from 1906-1910. In 1909, engineer Ernest Joseph Edmond Tart (1862-1938), who had begun his career in his father's banking
business, joined Robar's company. Tart invested quite a lot of money in the development of the Robar factory and became its commercial director.
In 1910, probably when his health began to deteriorate, Jean Louis Joseph Robar handed over the management of the company to his son, Louis Servais Hubert Robar. In 1912, at the age of 54, Jean Louis Joseph Robar
died and his son Louis Servais Hubert Robar became co-owner of the company with Louis de Kerckhove. Hence the business became known as Robar Fils & L. De Kerckhove and operated under this name from 1910 until 1926. The full
company name, L. Robar Fils & L. de Kerckhove, appears in a trademark certificate dated 14 January 1914 representing the trade name ‘Melior’ over the initials ‘R.K.’ ‘Melior’ is Latin for
‘better’ and might also be translated as ‘superior.’ In 1926 the company changed its name again to ROBAR & Co. and existed under this name until 1972
We believe the new company was formed to manufacture automatic pistols under the patents of Henri Rosier. At this time many inventors had great admiration for the firearms patents of John M. Browning, who had
become a trend setter in pistol design beginning in 1899 with the advent of the FN Browning automatic pistol. Henri Rosier, a young and talented engineer, was among the many inventors working on automatic pistol designs.
In April 1907 Rosier obtained Belgian patent № 199499 for an automatic pistol, one which was presumably presented to Louis Robar. On 21 November 1907 Henri Rosier applied for a patent
for an improved automatic pistol design, and on 30 November 1907 he was granted Belgian patent № 204029. Virtually identical patents were applied for in Switzerland on 25 July 1908, in the
USA on 18 November 1908, and in France and the Great Britain on 19 November 1908. The British patent was granted in 1909, while patents in the USA and Switzerland were not granted
until 1910. Here it is important to note that the U.S. patent 970645 was signed on 20 September 1910 by the engineer Victor Hamal and the factory owner Louis Robar as witnesses.
The first lot of Melior pistols was produced in 1908, though these pistols could only have been marketed in Belgium until such time as Henri Rosier’s foreign patents were granted. Hence the
first lot had no patent number or export markings. These pistols had « MELIOR » engraved on the
left side of the recoil spring housing and an “R&K” (Robar & de Kerckhove) monogram on the grip plates. We observe the R&K monogram on grip plates of Melior pistols prior to serial number 9534.
When Henri Rosier’s invention became protected by the British patent in 1909, the British patent number was added to the “MELIOR” slide inscription, including the patent application date of
1908.
Moritz Magnus Jr. became the first major distributor of Robar’s Melior pistol, and he had his own MM-jr monogram placed on the grip plates.
The manual for Melior pistols sold by Moritz Magnus Jr. was available in three languages: German, English, and Spanish. Logically then, Moritz Magnus Jr. must have sold these pistols in
Great Britain, Germany, Spain and other countries that spoke these languages. The lot of Melior pistols distributed by Moritz Magnus Jr. had an additional mark in English on the left side of the
recoil spring housing that defined their origin: “BELGIUM.” Moritz Magnus Jr. purchased a lot of approximately 1,000 pistols which were sold wholesale to small merchants (including to Sears, Roebuck and Company in the United States) at a reduced price, depending on the quantity they
bought. At this time the Moritz Magnus Jr. brand was little-known and apparently the company was dissatisfied with the sales. Having sold this lot of pistols, no further contracts were made with Robar & de Kerckhove.
After working with Moritz Magnus Jr. as a distributor, Janssen Fils et Cie became the main seller and agent of Robar & de Kerckhove in the foreign market and later held the monopoly on Melior
pistol sales in Belgium.
Jansen Fils et Cie was founded by Joseph Janssen and sons in 1867. Joseph Janssen was a shareholder of Fabrique Nationale in Herstal and a chairman of the factory board of directors from
1892 to 1896. Janssen Fils et Cie was a sustainable company that produced hunting guns and revolvers and was engaged in the export of luxury weapons, though it had not produced automatic
pistols. Therefore, the distribution contract was beneficial to both companies. Robar gained the freedom to concentrate on production and not bother about sales, while Janssen was able to
complete their offerings with an automatic pistol. This long-term contract appears to have been signed in the summer of 1909.
To enhance sales in the foreign market, Janssen put its own name and trademark on the pistol. On 12 October 1903 they had trademarked the JF&C abbreviation. They also trademarked the name
“Jieffeco.” “Jieffeco” is a French phonetic conversion of the letters ‘J’ and ‘F’, plus ‘Co’ (‘jie’
plus ‘effe’ plus ‘co’ = ‘Jieffeco’.) On 8 July 1909 the company trademarked the JF&Co monogram
in a circle for use on the grip plates of their new “Jieffeco” pistol. Later, they used this same monogram on the buttplates of their long guns.
Janssen Fils et Cie planned to sell the first lot of their automatic pistols on the British market. So they introduced a special inscription "AUTOMATIC PISTOL JIEFFECO DEPOSE" on the recoil spring housing. The Jieffeco lot for the British market consisted of about 2,000 guns in the range of serial
numbers from 4645 to 6628. Three pistols from this lot for the British market with the serial numbers 5842, 5913, and 6479 have been documented with an additional export mark of “BELGIUM” on the left side on the recoil spring housing.
A similar slide inscription was created in the French language for the French market. The lot that Janssen Fils et Cie ordered for the French market began at about serial number 6675.
In the range between serial number 5042 and 5161 there was a change in the design of the extractor. Evidently, at the time of this change Robar & de Kerckhove began production of the Model 1907 in 7.65mm, because all pistols of this caliber are equipped with an extractor of the second type.
Apparently the introduction of the 7.65mm pistol was connected with preparations for the International Exposition of Brussels in 1910 where Robar & de Kerckhove wanted to demonstrate
pistols in both calibers. At this exposition Robar & de Kerckhove received a silver medal. The exposition took place in Brussels from 23 April to 1 November of 1910.
On 31 October 1910 (in the midst of the exposition) Henry Rosier applied for a patent that allowed the barrel to be pulled forward and twisted to one side so it could be cleaned without
disassembling the pistol, and on 21 November 1910 he was granted Belgian patent № 230218.
During the International Exposition producers expanded their working contacts and made lucrative new deals. In this time period, Robar & de Kerckhove concluded a contract with the Austro
-Hungarian company, “Bial & Freund,” with offices in Budapest, Breslau, and Wein. The Bial & Freund company sold phonographs, musical instruments, photographic equipment, and weapons in
the territory of the Weimar Republic and in Africa.
As with many companies, Bial & Freund opted to sell phonographs and photographic equipment under their own brand, and they asked pistol manufacturers to use the German-language inscription
“Selbstlade Pistole” on their guns. This marketing phrase, meaning “self-loading pistol,” was used to sell Melior, Walther, and Clement pistols in German-speaking countries. Bial & Freund listed
the Robar & de Kerckhove Model 1907 pistol as “Patent-Selbstlade-Pistole.”
The contract for the “Selbstlade Pistole” was of limited duration, since Bial & Freund advertisements show these pistols for only two years from 1910 to 1911. Bial & Freund
advertised the Robar & de Kerckhove pistol as the Model 1910. There are Robar & de Kerckhove pistols inscribed “Selbstlade Pistole” with both “RK” grip plates and the JF&Co monogram grip
plates. Pistols with the "Selbstlade Pistole” inscription may be found in the serial number range from 6703 to 12166.
As was mentioned before, Janssen Fils et Cie was the main trade agent for Robar & de Kerckhove, and also wholesaled pistols to other companies outside of Belgium. The Adolf Frank company of
Hamburg, in its 1911 ALFA catalog, offered the Jieffeco pistol in both calibers, and also a pistol with JF&Co grip plates and a retouched name on the slide under its own brand "Alfa Patent." It is
easy to guess that Adolf Frank probably sold guns with the inscription “Selbstlade Pistole.”
In early 1911 Rosier improved the design by making it easy to disassemble without tools, and on 17 February applied for a patent, which was granted on 28 February 1911 as Belgian patent № 233222. This was an addendum to his 1910 patent № 230218. Similar patents were applied for in
Great Britain and Switzerland on 12 January 1912, and in the USA on 18 of January 1912, all of which were granted during the year 1912. The new design became known as the Model 1911.
This improved modification of the Melior pistol was demonstrated at the Charleroi Exposition that lasted from 29 April to 1 November 1911, where the best achievements of the art, culture and
industry of Wallonia were displayed. At that exposition the improved Robar & de Kerckhove Model 1911 pistols produced under the Rosier patents were honored with a Gold medal.
Production of the Model 1911 under patent № 233222 was introduced into the line even as production of the 1908-year model continued, and so the earliest serial numbers of the new model
may be seen in the same serial number range as the Model 1907. There are two known Model 1911 pistols with the early serial numbers 9110 and 9577. Production of the Model 1907 stopped
in the range between serial number 12166 of the Model 1907 and serial number 12634 of the Model 1911.
Part 2: The 7.65mm Melior and Jieffeco Pistols
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