Hi,
Looking for information on Heinrich Scherping Hof-Buchsenmacher in Hannover Germany, established 1870s to his death in 1913 then the company was bought & run by 2 brothers (Heinrich & Johann Eckebrecht as late as 1937). He was a master gunmaker and retailed some very nice guns from his business. Any info greatly appreciated.

m-4

Like many gunmakers to the Royal Courts, his info is sketchy at best. Info suggests he was born in 1831 in Gustrow, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%BCstrow , German and became a Meister circa 1862. He was a gunmaker to the Austrian Royal court or whoever came out on top in his area after the mid 1860s. With the Meister title, he had to be a whale of a gunsmith at one time but with all the examples out there he had to transform into a firearms merchant by the latter part of the 19th century sourcing parts from the cradle of German gunmaking, Suhl. I've also read info that suggest that the Eckebrecht brothers acquired the firm in 1897. And that the brothers expiring a year apart just before WWII began(maybe 1938 & 1939??). Scherping was noted in Gustrow, Mecklenbert and Hannover. Info also suggest that he expired in 1913 and I assume that there might have been a couple of generations of Scherpings. He, or his firm, looks to have peddled more than firearms as there are examples of edged weapons designed by Karl Friedrich Lippet, artist and avid hunter, with a patent in October 1936, which were sold thru Scherping.

Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse

Raimey,
Very accuate description of the small amount of history surrounding this fine craftsman. It appears he was admitted into the blacksmith guild in 1862 finishing around 1866. The earliest of his fine work on guns that I have seen appears to be from the 1870s. You are also correct in that it appears as if he bought guns or parts from companies such as Sauer & Merkel & had them finished & retailed from his shop located at Grosse Wall str 8 in Hannover. Even though he seemed to have expanded his business in this way the quality of the firearms sold by his company were of very fine quality. I have seen 50+ of his guns with no 2 being alike. The knife that you speak of was was patent no. 1393684, registered in Berlin 3/12/1936 and was designeded by Painter & Hunter Friedrich Karl Lippert and titled the "Lipper Ceechen Waidblatt". From what I have been able to gather, only around 12 were made & sold by H Scherping. In 2001 this highly prized knife was replicated with a special edition of 200 copies being made by Willi Ulrich in Solingen, a 5th generation sword making family for over 200 years! I have one of these in with my collection of Scherping guns and even though it is a replica it is highly prized! I was enlisted into the "adopt a gunmaker" program by Deitrich Apel of the German Gun Collectors Assn. and continue to search for any new information on this superb craftsman, any info is greatly appreciated & I thought I might tap into the wealth of knowledge on this board for any new information.

thanks
m-4

m-4:

Well good for you on the Ulrich. As NiklasP noted, Solingen steel history is quite interesting. I'm a huge fan of the old German cutlery. Regarding the cutlery, today much of it is being source in SE Asia, or somewhere close, and it is going to be increasing difficult to discern between those & the original. I guess Puma to be the larger concern I follow along with WWI daggers, which most were hunting daggers.

Scherping had to have a small shop and there almost had to be a couple of generations as I wonder just how he turned out all that he did. I've seen the blacksmith guild reference and for the moment it is puzzling. Also I'm curious as to how he was connected to the Royal Courts. I think I remember him peddling bolt guns in 8X60 chamberings and those were probably either by Robert Schuler or Krieghoff, who obtained a trademark for his boat-anchor/sword(Schwertanker) in 1928. Along your quest, if you find some interesting barrel marks, send me a few pics. I've also seen his name on examples either sourced in Belgium or with Belgian proofs.

Here is a link to a hammer double with purported Whitworth tubes and Birmingham proofs and what has to be a Krieghoff stock: http://www.amoskeagauction.com/68/350.html , or something very similar. I've seen examples on the Lefaucheux action and was curious if you have a serial number range?

As a side note in 1943 there was a Master of the hunt named Scherping of the Reich Forestry Commission and Prussian Provincial Forestry Department who guided Goring on an elk hunt(s)??

I need to adopt a Austrian/Germanic maker and get with the progarm but for now I seem to have adopted them all, all of which were superb craftsman.

Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse

Raimey,
I have several of his mauser rifles from the 1920's era including 1 in 8x60 as well as another in 30 GOVT 06 and a couple 8x57's. The 06 was made in 1928 and is stamped Merco for Oskar Merkel. What kind of markings would identify Schuler?

m-4

barrel maker from court of heinrich scherping of hannover germany sounds impresive enough.

I saw that gun come up for auction twice, the first buyer didn't take it because of some bbl problems that were not as described and the second buyer wanted it worse than I. It was definetly restocked and had sir joseph whitworth bbls on it. I have also seen another of his guns with a set of High quality French bbl's on it. I always just figured that most of these were custom ordered and that he just outsourced what he needed to in order to meet the customers wishes. I have a couple of his double rifles with stories that tie to Goring but without documentation I just concider them stories. I have contacts for many owners of his guns & pic's of quite a few.

m-4

It seems that a lot of folk, or articles folks have, wanted be associated with Hermann Goring before and after the trials but not at the Nuremburg trials themselves.

As for the marks, Sempert & Krieghoff purportedly purchased the assets of Valentin Chr. Schilling in 1904, who from the get-go was involved in the production of German service rifles, and this purchase allowed them to get their foot in to door being a bolt rifle or bolt rifle component source. So if the Scherping was sourced from S&H and it was before circa 1920 I would guess it to have a "S&K" stamp which sometimes looks like a "S&H"(SuK is also an option). August Schuler/Richard Schuler sourced their components from S&K or Krieghoff for their proprietary chamberings. After that I would expect to see a "HK" stamp where the right side of the "H" overlaps with the left side of the "K". I'd also expect to see a "RS" stamp.

I associate "MERCO" with Oskar Merkel and not Geb. Merkel but they were all related in some fashion and I think E. Schlegelmich owned a portion of most all makers as his name crops up everywhere. Oskar was involved in G.M. as well as was Adolf Schade and he may have driven Oskar away, who knows. But I think G.M. sourced their bolt rifle components straight from Mauser in Obendorf. The Mauser version may have more military type markings, but that is just a guess from now. So many variable and so few equations.

I'm interested in any and all tube marks you might have.

Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse

At the Vintagers(2009) I did happen to see a Heinrich Scherping Hannover double totally made by Sauer as a Facile Princeps( http://books.google.com/books?id=aMECAAA...gun&f=false ) with patent numbers 10343, 23490, 505006 which I think went with the countries: Germany, ?, & America. Thanks to Steven Meyer for shedding the light on what the patent was for. It did however still have the typical Rigby style forend latch as seen on the majority of Heinrich Scherping guns. I think this goes a long way toward Heinrich Scherping sourcing Sauer for his longarms with the possiblity of a few other Suhl makers.

Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse

Let me make a correction on the above post as the Sauer Patent was noting the means of attaching the tubes: AMERKIA - 505006 - http://www.google.com/patents?id=pf1JAAA...;q=&f=false

The correct Patent numbers are as follows:

BELGIEN - 102613
FRANKREICH - 226603
OESTERREICH - UNG. 21471/69130
DEUTSCHLAND - 70343
ENGLAND - 23496
AMERIKA - 505006

I think Sauer to be the source of the Rigby style forend latch forends, or to have a direct source.

Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse

Apparently Sauer made yet another Facile Princeps as serial number 146331 for Bertha Krupp. For those with Cate's Sauer book, see page 86 thru 88. For those German collectors with out it, see GGCA( http://www.germanguns.com ) or Mr. Cate about purchasing a copy as it is a great reference.

Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse

One of m-4's acquisitions, possibly sourced from Gebhardt Merkel, a guess for now, the pics might be a little large:






Has what looks to be the initials of "GEM"(Gebhardt Ernst(?) Merkel) or GHM????

Anyone know the pre-1890 history of the Merkel boys? They seem to arrive in Suhl in the late 1800s. The Merkel klan seem to have been centered around the Heidelberg-Mannheim/Bayern region where some cat brought them in the 700s A.D. to expel the Moors and they liked the area so well they stayed.

Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse

Here's an Austrian-Hungarian DR proofed in 1906 with German sourced components such as Krupp steel tubes from the Schilling forge: http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/conten...erarchyId=10473 . It has the same type Rigby style forend latch that was popular in Vienna. I guess I'll give them 1/2 credit on their description.

Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse

Heinrich Scherping O/U:




Ubiquitous Rigby style forend lever latch.

Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse

So from the current Merkel O/U thread,

"According to the book, involvement in the firearms trade for his family began with Friedrich Ernst Ferdinand Merkel(1821-1901), an engraver, and continued by Ernst August Merkel(1853-1912) and by his son Louis Ferdinand(1866-1904). The Merkels became well established gunmakers in Suhl. Bernhard Emil Merkel(1874-1954), son of Friedrich Ernst Ferdinand, founded his own business around the turn of the century(20th), to be followed by his son Fritz(1906-1976).",

the "GEM" might be stamp initials of Gebhardt Emil/Ernst Merkel. Either he was a cousin to the Merkels or one of the above had 4 names and Gebhardt was in the mix somewhere.

Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse

Some new Heinrich Scherping examples have surfaced thru a recent auction of Thomas Del Mar(I think) in December and said examples were taken from Prince Ernst August of Hannover’s gunroom or collection. Among the examples were say 4 Heinrich Scherping examples and a Carl Daniel Tanner example. As a side note, Prince Friedrich Ludwig von Knyphausen Edzard carried a Scherping double as noted in his text “Forays Into India” by Baron Edzard Innhausen & Knyphausen, which could have been another court Scherping supplied. Also a percussion example has recently sold with Heinrich Scherping’s name atop and L. Eckebrecht on the locks. So M-4 is now working on his memoirs, or a dossier on H. Scherping, and I can’t remember which. But it now is evident that the Eckebrecht’s involvement was much earlier that 1897, or circa 1900, and it may just be that the tables were turned and actually Heinrich Scherping arrived in Hannover and actually was taken under the wing of the Eckebrecht family and not the other way around in 1897, or circa 1900. In a Hannover listing for 1866 there is a Doroth. Eckebrecht widow listed as being involved in gunmaking and for now the trail goes cold for the Eckebrechts until about the turn of the 20th century.





Heinrich Scherping is purported to have been born in 1831. I would think he attained the rank of master and hung out his shingle in Hannover circa 1855. Scherping most likely on his walkabout passed thru Herzberg, Suhl, Vienna, and I’m sure other locations before arriving where the money was in Hannover/Hanover. Heinrich Scherping arrived at a unique time as Carl Phillip Crause of Herzberg, Ernst August Störmer of Herzberg and Carl Daniel Tanner all expired in the late 1850s. Carl Daniel Tanner worked, and I’m sure was an apprentice or journeyman, at Carl Phillip Crause’s facility in Herzberg. Master gunsmith & engraver C.D. Tanner hung out his own shingle in 1827 and moved to Hannover where the money was in 1829.


1827

He advertised as a Hof-Rüstmeister and I guess that to mean Quartermaster to a court, but I’m very open to the correct translation. But comparing the examples and especially the engraving it is apparent that Heinrich Scherping either passed thru the master engraver Carl Daniel Tanner shop as a journeyman, and possibly the Carl Phillip Crause facility, or worked at the C.D. Tanner Hannover shop. It appears that “Söhne” was added to the C.D. Tanner advert in 1854 and C.D. Tanner expired about 4 years later in 1858.



Carl Daniel Tanner had 3 sons and apparently there was some sort of branch office in Liege. In 1866 there was some confusion on the address, Liege or Hannover, and the title as supplier to the court wasn’t renewed. Hermann Tanner went to St. Petersburg and also must have had a retail outlet in Paris as a few pistols exists with his name. The other 2 brothers went to Liege to continue the business there. So Heinrich Scherping acquired the skills as a master gunmaker, obtained the eye of quality and arrived at a destination where there were folks with monies available to purchase his products. In short he arrived at the right place at the right time.
So all in all there hasn’t been any new direct info but thru indirect information we are beginning to better define the elusive Hof-Büchsenmacher. So if anyone has or knows of any early Heinrich Scherping examples, contact M-4 with the info.

Scherping hammer example have somewhat of a hallmark feature which is the fish-eye and scales atop the hammer. There is a very strong connection between the early Scherping examples and the Carl Daniel Tanner ones.

Hammer on C.D. Tanner pistol.

Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse

Raimey,
I have a pin-fire rifle marked E.H. TANNER IN LIEGNITZ. Its hammer is similar to the one on the C.D. Tanner pistol above.
With kind regards,
Jani

Jani:
I would be very appreciative if at your leisure you could take a few pics and email them to me. E.H. more than likely is for Ernst Heinrich (Daniel Carl)?? Tanner who was the youngest of Carl Daniel Tanner's sons and he was born in 1842 and expired in 1912. I've seen exact dates for all three boys but for now they've slipped out of my hands. So I would guess that Ernst Heinrich Tanner attained the rank of master circa 1866 and that's about the time that things fell apart in Hannover. So that would put the date of manufacture of your pinfire in the 1870s which makes sense. Also if it has similar engraving, then Carl Daniel Tanner passed the skill on to Ernst Heinrich (Daniel Carl) Tanner. Could Ernst Heinrich Tanner have been H. Scherping's engraver or was Scherping an engraver in his own right but only influenced by Carl Daniel Tanner? Or was L.(Lorenz???) Eckebrecht an engraver also and Scherping drew from the well of both engravers Carl Daniel Tanner and L. Eckebrecht?

Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse

"It seems that a lot of folk, or articles folks have, wanted be associated with Hermann Goring before and after the trials but not at the Nuremburg trials themselves."

He was a colorful guy, Raimey. Air crew were his personal prisoners, under Luftwaffe control not Whermacht, and were treated much better than other POWs. My father was one of them, an organizer of The Great Escape. (See A Gallant Company, The Men of the Great Escape by Jonathan F. Vance.)

My friend, Bill Greenaway, a British motorcycling, fly and spincasting champion, enjoyed Goering's company numerous times on his estates before the war. Bill was undercover British intelligence. His wife Cora was a spy. Fishing, hunting, flying and fun were always close to Goering.

My father told me of an American pilot who parachuted onto his big estate. It was during the big daylight raids, just before lunch. The pilot was wined and dined in Goering style and sent off under guard in stately horse and carriage because the Reichsmarschall "had work to do."

Goering committed suicide by poison October 15 1946 a few hours before his intended execution.

Regards, King

King, I guess what you say could be considered "colorful". The list of that type of colorful people is probably long. There are lots of colorful people in life, whose legacy was not best remembered for being a criminal. It's an odd behavior in people that they find value in association with the things of criminals. Maybe they should concentrate on the things of the colorful people who weren't criminals, but I guess they don't get much press.

It seems that colourful characters were in abundance say 20 years ago but nowadays I don't run across one daily.

M-4's O/U Heinrich Scherping DR right hammer





Forend with bump

Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse

I wish it were that way, Daryl. The world is filled with good guys but my experience is that virtue and power rests rarely in the same person.

First of all I want to say Thank You to anyone that can help in this quest to learn more of this great gunmaker, the only reason that Goerings name is even mentioned in these posts is because 2 of the H Scherping guns that I have came with stories of ties to Goering which at the time of purchase did not influence my decision as to value or desirability. They were purchased based on the quality of craftsmanship and with the hope of new clues in learning more of the gunmaking trade in the area at that time.
Raimey has been instrumental in helping me with the research in creating a timeline and path that led this man to obtain the status of Hof-Buchsenmacher. He was a top shelf maker that remained popular and his business stood the test of time to span around 80 years through some very turbulent times. Any information on Tanner, Eckebrecht or Scherping would be of great help in establishing fact from theory and we are getting closer every day and with the help of the knowledge from members here we hope to one day tell the true story of this mans history & career with factual data to substantiate the story.

m-4
Mike

Mike, King, Raimey et al. Really good posts. Raimey, I really liked your last pics. Beautiful work.

I'm sure the possibility exists for the "B.M." stamp on this Carl Gründig drilling to be for someone other than Bernhard Emil Merkel, but the preponderance of evidence seems to be weighing in Bernhard Merkel's favor.

Also, Oskar Merkel founded his business as early as 1887 and he may have had a relative/son that help found a business circa 1907. So it is possible that Heinrich Scherping was sourcing Oskar Merkel as early as the late 1880s, a time when distance sourcing seems to have begun to spool.


I can't remember is this O/U had the "MERCO" stamp or not. But I would venture a guess that the longarm, and engraving, was finished in or around Hanover.


Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse

Bernhard Merkel's stamp was BEMESU (BErnhard MErkel SUhl). I have owned at least two in the past, and I think I sent a copy of an article published a year or so ago to you (Raimey) which someone I was corresponding with at Gebruder Merkel sent to me, and several months ahead of the same article being published in the GGCA periodical. I don't know why he would have used that well known and documented stamp and also have used just the two initials B.M. in a script style on other occasions. I'll bet that is something other than Bernhard Merkel, but I don't know what it might be.

Thanks for the grounding Chiefshotguns. I will concur that BEMESU was Bernhard Merkel's tradename, for want of a better term, and like MERCOwaffen may have also been their telegram address or name. But I think we are going to find that stamps like BEMESU and MERCO are, in addition to tradenames, are also process marks noting how much effort, and liability in the event of a failure, was applied to a particular example. I think Bernhard Merkel to be the source for many of the unique frames found on German longarms, especially the clamshell. There are some European schools of thought that Otto Seelig was the "in the white" source, but I just don't think so. Economics continues to point to the Suhl/Zella-Mehlis area for sourcing.

August Bräutigam was a frame filer for Gebrüder Merkel in the 1920s so I would expect to see his initials somewhere on many of their examples. But the firearms merchant didn't want any names visible except his. So on many of the odd frames I expect to see the initials "B.M." stamped on the frame hidden from view. I will search for other possibilities. As I've said before I think the Merkel klan played a large role in being sourced by Hof-Büchsenmachers for their examples.

Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse

Here's a link to a PDF on GGCA's 2007 article on Bernhard Merkel which states that some of his examples had BESMU: http://www.germanguns.com/journals/newsletter3.pdf . He also used a mark similar to the Gebrüder Merkel stamp of a "GM" in a shield(either Gebrüder Merkel or the "GM" in a shield was filed under #331084 in 1902 I believe) which was "BM" in a shield. So with that I'd venture he also used his initials.

Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse

Bernhard Merkel DR with script "BEMESU" stamp. It was at Bass Pro some time ago and I wish there was a pic of the marks to see if they point back to Bernhard Merkel.



1925 Suhler Waffenwerk(Suhl Weapons Factor - the name was adopted by Merkel in 1925) DR clamshell. So this may be one of the 1st to use the Suhler Waffenwerk name instead of Merkel. I'll see if I can find a Merkel thread to transition the info.

Seelig clamshell DR: http://rbsiii.com/collection/rifles/muzzelverschluss_93/muzzelverschluss_93.htm that might have some interesting marks?

Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse

Getting back toward a Heinrich Scherping tangent, it appears that Albert Staehle was born in 1828, apprenticed in the Vienna area and I'd guess achieved the rank of master in the 1850s. By 1865 he may have received his k.k.( kaiserlich-königlich ) status and moved or constructed a new facility in 1867. There seems to be just too many longarms with multiple tube sets with his name on them for him not to have been a tube specialist. A Heinrich Scherping pair exits with one of the pair having a tube set stamped with Albert Staehle K.K. and as did Johann Soukup: http://www.auctionarms.com/search/displayitem.cfm?itemnum=9660716 . Staehle's rib, even with the k.k.( kaiserlich-königlich ) title, seems more plain and Johann Soukup's tube's adornment seems to fit well with the overall longarm. If anyone has any info on Johann Soukup, I'd be terribly interested. It may be as Axel E. of GGCA has noted that "Country Gunsmiths" dabbled in longarms with their name roll stamped atop while peddling bicycles and other various and sundry things.

Albert Staehle looks to have expired in 1880 so tubes with his name atop had to be made prior to that time or shortly after. He may have had an heir or assign that continued but it doesn't look likely. Scherping's local sourcing possibly had faded away by the late 1870s and who knows he may have turned to the craftsmen at Vienna before he began heavily sourcing the craftsmen at Suhl & Zella-Mehlis.

Also now GGCA has an electronic version of their publication for subscribers and this issue has an Alexander Henry falling block with Albert Staehle's name atop the tube. He could have sourced the components and made the tube but I think Johann Kalezky to be the source of the Alexander Henry falling block components which more than likely he sourced from Scotland.

Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse

M4's latest possible acquisition that I guess was made in the mid to late 1880s. Any one else think it is sort of Lindner like? At first glance the engraving conjures up Hugo Kolb's name.















Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse

Very interesting early 16 ga boxlock with Birmingham bbl's,29 1/2" with H Scherping & Hannover enscribed on them, intercepting sears (note: upper screw height, centerlined on the upper profile line almost at bore centerline) Gun is in the process of getting a good cleaning & look over right now. Will try to add some better pic's after the bath! Also note the extra work over the action shoulders, would be a lot of work like arcaded fences! This was a very nice gun in its time and still is after 120+ years and I look forward to a walk in the woods with it some day soon!

m-4

Seems that when the gunmaking business in Herzberg dried up and apparently to renew the royal warrant one had to have an address in German that the Tanner boys went their separate ways with Hermann to St. Petersburg and E.H. & Otto going to the Breslau/Liegnitz/Gro�-Glogau area. Piotr J. Bochynski & I were exchanging info he sent me this advert.



E. H. Tanner - Gro�-Glogau / Hlohov 1892 Advert

In 1880 E.H. Tanner filed DRP 13098 for a rear diopter.

http://www.littlegun.be/arme%20belge/artisans%20identifies%20t%20w/a%20tanner%20otto%20gb.htm
Otto Tanner's unique double design

Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse