Bit of a collector’s dream these little fellas since early Pierre Allain karabiners are somewhat rare. Allain was a French Alpiniste(1904-2000)who is probably best known for developing the first rubber soled boots for rock climbing back in the 1930’s. Nearly 100 years later in 2013 – rock climbers still refer, collectively, to their rock boots as PA’s. What is less well known is that Pierre was one of the first producers of a lightweight alloy karabiner, two examples of which we are delighted to have here in the collection. Otto Herzog is credited with producing the first metal karabiner back in 1910 and it seems Allain invented the first aluminium alloy karabiner in 1939 – we suspect ours are from the 1950’s. The SGDG stamped on the sides stands for ‘sans garantie du gouvernement’ and is a disclaimer required by French patent laws (Brevette = patent) to show that the government accepts no responsibility if you break your neck! These early karabiners did not have a pin in the gate which was a weakness rectified in all later karabiners. The first of our our karabiners has a ‘Fleur de lis’ stamped on it which is a bit curious – we are not sure if it’s a French trade mark. The second karabiner is a slightly later version which does have a pin in the gate – see photo opposite