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

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.