[RJay]

There are very few records available for all of the old Belgium shotguns that were were imported over the years. I would guess your friends shotgun was made between the late 1890's and 1911 ( intermission for WWI ) in the 1920s when firearm production restarted in Belgium outside hammers were no longer in vogue and the trend was for the new internal hammer shotgun. The same for Damascus barrels ( Laminated steel is a form of Damascus, where strips or rods of steel are hammer welded around a mandrel ), after WWI the trend was for the stronger " fluid steel or high carbon steel. Prior to and after WWI Belgium had a very large cottage firearm industry,dozens, perhaps even hundreds of small Dad and son shops where perhaps a dozen shotguns were made a year. On large contract orders for the cheaper guns the shops would combine and work as a co op, certain shops would make barrels, other shops would make other parts and yet other shops put it all to together. These guns were shipped to the US by the boat load and sold for for just a few dollars ( 5 to 10 ). There were large Belgium's firms that turned out firearms that were second to none and were as good as anything made in Europe, but they were also not afraid to put there names on their products. These very old, no name Belgium shotguns such as your friend's, do not command much value and are not safe to shoot ( My opinion ). After over a hundred years of unknown use and storage the internal welds could very well be like wood that termites have infested. All rust and no structure. A place on the wall is the best place for these old shotguns, but that's just my opinion.