Hi Wade,
Nice pistols. Second Empire refers to the period of Napolean III's rule of France (1852-1870). I suspect your pistols were made during that period as well. The Belgian barrels are not unusual even for pistols made in other countries but yours could easily be Belgian made copying the a French style particularly the LePage family. Pistols were often made in pairs, which means they may not be specifically intended for dueling, especially by mid 19th century. The gold letters do mean "Cast Steel", which means the steel was cast in crucibles to homogenize the alloy and produce a higher quality and consistent steel. The steel ingot was then beaten into skelps to be used for gun barrels, knives, swords, razors etc. Cast steel was produced in southern Asia for more than 1000 years before your pistols were made but the European process to make it was invented by Hutchinson in Sheffield, England during the mid 18th century. It is important to realize that steel was precious until the Bessemer process was invented in 1856. Henry Bessemer's process created the first inexpensive steel. By the early 19th century, the best and most expensive barrels were made either stub twist iron, steel infused iron (Damascus), and cast steel (homogenous steel).
dave
