Home / Proof Marks / Liège — spangled ELG in an oval

Liège — spangled ELG in an oval

Belgian (Liège) proof marks · 1846-1893.
What it looks like
The letters E, L and G in that order inside a pointed oval, with a small star or spangle above.
Where it is on the gun
Barrel, and on revolvers the rear of the cylinder.
Date range
1846-1893.

What it tells you

What this mark authorises you to say

The acceptance mark of the Liège proof house in its classic form, and the most recognisable Belgian proof stamp there is. Because the oval was used for a defined window of forty-seven years, a spangled ELG alone places a Belgian gun firmly in the mid-to-late nineteenth century — the single most useful piece of dating information on a Belgian arm of that era.

What it does not tell you

What this mark does NOT say

It does not date the gun within those decades, and it is not a proof in the sense of a pressure test result: it records acceptance by the house, and the actual tests are recorded by the companion marks for bore, powder and load.

Sources for this page

Every claim above is attributed. The class of source is shown with each one, because a national proof house and an anonymous forum table are not the same evidence — and on proof marks the difference matters.

Reading marks to identify and date a gun

Proof marks name the test and the era. The serial number, where a maker published a browsable chart, can name the year. The lookup cites the threshold behind every result.

Open the serial number lookup

Other belgian (liège) proof marks

Mark descriptions observed and verified 2026-10-14. Proof marks are stamped by hand on guns up to a century old; a photographed stamp and a description in a book are not the same evidence. If a mark on your gun does not match anything here, that is a real answer — see the notes on unidentified marks.