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"Great Lion Battle of Leipzig" circa WWI???

F.W. Vandrey cornered the market in Hamburg by being probably the largest and was “the” outifitter in Hamburg. Up until circa WWI, various makers outside of Suhl/Zella-Mehlis sourced their components and completed their customer’s order in house or purchased longarms “in the white” from Suhl/Zella-Mehlis. Post WWI and after a devastating loss of craftsmen due to the conflict, the whole of Germany sourced the craftsmen of Suhl/Zella-Mehlis for their orders. Robert Schüler of Køln/Cologne appears to have been the contact to the sourcing of Suhl or due to family connections owned a shop there or an interest in a facility of another name. Ernst Steigleder of Berlin & Suhl is another strong possibility as early on he had a close working relationship with Sauer. My hats really off to this fella because I believe he had the funds and connections to obtain the rank of Hofbüchsenmacher, or some similar title, as evident by this photo of Ludwig Schiwy(2nd from the left) and Ernst Steigleder(2nd from the right) and others of the Diana hunting club of Berlin, probably at a competition shoot.


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lifted from Fredik Franzen article

But Ernst Steigleder chose to go it alone solely on his own name and merit. In my book there’s a lot to be said about that.

Ludwig Schiwy at some point owned the F.W. Vandrey & Company firm and it’s name is seen on examples and scopes peddled by J. Nowotny and many others. Ernst Steigleder heirs and assigns give Ludwig Schiwy as being born in the 1880s and I guess him to have obtained his master’s brief before WWI. The interval between the wars seems to be the peak of Ludwig Schiwy’s career with Hermann Goering and his inlaws as clients, had at least one fixed sight patent and looks to have departed this world sometime in the late 1950s in West(?) Berlin. Post WWII and as a consequence of WWII Ludwig Schiwy was reduced to peddling airguns and ammo.

Stahl & Berger was also of Hamburg and of course sourced such craftsmen of Suhl such as E. Schmidt & Habermann, Kerner indirectly thru the F.W. Vandrey & Company firm and I’m sure others. Post WWII it appears that most of the craftsmen of Stahl & Berger migrated to Hartmann(Gerhard) and Weiß(Otto). Hartmann, Weiß & Martin Hagn are somehow connected to the F.W. Vandrey & Company as well as Stahl & Berger. Hartmann looks to have been on his Journeyman walk-about relatively close and either worked at F.W. Vandrey & Company and/or some area or hunting preserve referred to as “Büma on the Höltigbaum”( http://translate.google.com/translate?hl...l%3Den%26sa%3DG ) while Otto Weiß was at Merkel in Suhl, Glaser in Zurich and on to Purdey’s in London with his walk-about after escaping East German in 1958 more than likely on a fast track Journeyman program similar to Mr. Dietrich Apel. In the early 1960s Ottow Weiß returned to German to found the business Hartmann & Weiß with his old buddy Gerhard Hartmann. 6 years later Peter Nelson of Purdey left Purdey to join Hartmann & Weiss and after 3 years returned to London to open a branch Hartmann & Weiss office. With that it seems as sourcing has become global and come full circle.



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Can anyone described what's on the muzzle?
Ah, I couldn't get the pic to cooperate so look here for
"Ludwig SCHIWY Berlin Doppelbüchsdrilling 2x8x57IR 20/70 mit 3 Ejektoren" a few over a baker's dozen down here:
http://www.feine-jagdwaffen.de/cms/index.php?id=8,0,0,1,0,0

Anyone have any info on the F.W. Vandrey & Company firm?

Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse