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Sidelock
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The diamond nutplates on the Simson catch the eye as does the bracket of the scalloped back. Crosnoe's Uggie also an apparent copy.

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Originally Posted By: rabbit
The spelling on mine is "Weichlot".


In the current DGJ, Vol. 20, Issue 3(Autumn 2009) at page 20, Fredrik Franzen has a very interesting article on Gebruder Merkel and he includes Patent 509779 and states: "The Merkel patent from 1930 for a combination of mechanical and low-temperature soldering called "Weichlot," for over-and-under barrels."

The epoxy term I was looking for is " zwei komponenten kleber "( two component glue ), which Mike Ford kindly supplied to me.

Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse

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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. I guess them to have begun their apprenticeship in the Baden region and on the walk-about travelled to Suhl to learn from the best of the best.

Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse

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This cat gives they were originally metalworkers in Suhl from 1535, but I wonder about the source: http://books.google.com/books?id=XilvUTn...uhl&f=false

Where this 1930's advertisment snippet looks like 186??: http://books.google.com/books?id=wK1MAAAAMAAJ&q=merkel+suhl&dq=merkel+suhl&lr=

Many times one sees these abstract, far reaching time references with little substance: http://translate.google.com/translate?hl...FA_enUS346US347

They may have been from in and around Suhl but many times craftsmen wanted to be associated with the very talented craftsmen of Suhl.


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Raimey
rse

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An interesting article by Hendrik
Frühauf???, http://www.freies-wort.de/_/tools/pdfpage.html?arid=698318 , is a pretty interesting find and may more strongly link the Merkels and the Berlin clamshell peddlers with Merkel being the source and probably sourcing Sauer for frames, who in the late 1890s(1893-1899) made a few clamshell double scatterguns with clock-hand indicators:

Forced translation:
"In the 1920s, he had Bernard Merkel was born in 1874 and died in 1954, among other things a lot for
the renowned Berlin firm Barella, and for the resident company in Suhl Franz Kettner, Cologne,
worked. Appeared even more time on the brand Benesu. Which stands for Bernard Merkel, Suhl.
The company had once made a very nice guns, reported early.
Bernard Merkel, Merkel was one of the brothers. Oskar, Karl and Paul Gebhard Merkel have
Gebrüder Merkel founded. Bernhard then worked as Ernst August, the fifth brother,
independently. The end of 1907 have Charles, Paul and Gebhard von Oskar Merkel, separately and in the
Produce Wolfsgrube 14, right next door from Bernhard to start. Oscar worked in the
Judithstraße more than 60 independent gunsmith. He made weapons in excellent quality,
carried out its own developments and had an exclusive clientele, who found in Breitenbach
his research on the history of the various ordnance factories Merkel brothers out. Pity is
He that the house Wolfsgrube 16 and the production buildings have now been demolished. After
Johanna Merkel, she lived a long time in a nursing home Suhler died, was the site
sold."

So using 24 years as the span for attaining the rank of master, Bernard Merkel would have passed that milestone in 1898, which was when things really began to happen for Merkel, etal. Also either the DGJ 2009 Merkel article was based on similar info or supports this info.

The name Benesu equated to Merkel is also interesting as it was thought to be a Berlin firm. I'll check my notes and add info.

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Raimey
rse

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Ah, I had the info I was asking for but forgot that I had it:

GGCA No. 27, Fall 2005, Volume 8, No. 3 – page 14 – Collector’ Corner – Richard Hummell

“My favorite German double rifle is a side-by-side, with a “clam-shell” action, chambered for 9,3X74R, with Greener cross-bolt and double Purdey sliding underlug locking systems. It now wears a Schmidt and Bender …. You can find the history of the maker, Bernhard Merkel, in the book Gebrueder Merkel by Dr. Hans-Jurgen Fritze

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)."

But it was Munchen that I had in mind and not Berlin, but anyway in DGJ Volume 8 Issue 3 at page 72:

“The other double rifle(photographed together with the Bemesu) has only part of the barrel text left, the scope mount covers part of it. Only “Bayer Hofgewehr-fabrik, Munchen” is visible, but from an old catalogue, I know that this Gewehrfa-brik in Munchen was Carl Stiegele, so now we know the makers name."

But as almost always the case, a firearms merchant outside of Suhl/Zella-Mehlis was sourcing the talented craftsment of Suhl. Stiegele more than likely didn't make it but sourced if from Merkel.

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Raimey
rse

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Raimey, it's Be(rnard) Me(rkel) Su(hl), BeMeSu, I have owned two of his guns. Interestingly, both had forend irons marked with the GM shield, for Gebruder Merkel. Apparently the brothers Merkel were still on good enough terms that he was able to grab already finished forend irons from the bins at Gebruder Merkel to use on his guns. Mine both dated in the 1920's, I don't have them anymore, but both appeared to be the same basic scalloped back boxlock action used by Gebruder Merkel. I may be aqble to find some old photos on the computer, I'll look around.

There was an interesting article recently published in the GGCA magazine which reprinted the notice of the razing of the Bernard Merkel factory in Suhl only a couple years ago. Someone I correspond with in Germny actually sent me a German language print of that newspaper article at the time, it also may still be on my computer if you are interested.

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ChiefShotgun:


I'm always interested. BeMeSu of course is the link to Carl Stiegele and related back to Suhl. But it's like herding cats trying to define the family and sourcing relationships, which is the key to determining the maker of a specific weapon. We may not be able to determine exactly who made it, but may discover the family from which it was made. Much info on the networks of gunmakers is being revealed due to the internet.

Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse

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Donno how "Carl Stiegele" relates to Bernard Merkel. I would bet my hat, however, that Bernard Merkel is the source of the fairly often encountered BeMeSu (again, simply standing for Benard Merkel, Suhl, the first two letters of each word) stamping on guns that appear very similar to those made by Gebruder Merkel. It would also seem, to me at least, that the GM stamped forend irons on the two BeMeSu guns I owned would simply be further evidence of the relationship. I emailed you the original German language copy of the article on Bernard Merkel, I was able to find it on my computer. Hope you can translate enough of the German to make sense of it. I had a friend read it to me at the time, it just detailed some of the history and how the factory (a cottage factory, located in a multi story home in Suhl) came to be torn down. It is also in a recent GGCA magazine with some English translation. I am sure you can make better sense of the German text than I could at the time.

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ChiefShotguns:

Thanks for the effort and reference. It's the same as I'd posted above thru a forced translations. I can do the same for the rest if anyone is interested.


I've been on a clamshell kick. Heinrich Barella, Otto Selisch, Otto Bock(Hoflieferante-purveyor to the Royal court/household), Greifelt, Carl Stiegele(Bayer Hofgewehr-fabrfik Munchen? W. Foerster Konigl Hofbuchsenmacher, Oscar Geyger, Erdmann Schmidt & Habermann, Robert Schuler( http://www.montywhitley.com/antique_arms_fine_sporting_guns/double_rifles/1765 ) and I'm sure there are others peddled clamshell actions. One such action had both BeMeSu and Carl Stiegele on the weapon. Some have guessed that Stiegele was BeMeSu and was the source of the calmshells just like Otto Selisch has been credited as being a source. But now it seems all info points to Merkel of Suhl.

Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse

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