doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com H Scherping Hannover

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