Steven:
I too would very much like a book on marks with definitions but evidently once the product was out the door the manufacture didn't think anyone would be interested in the info on the initials. I've seen the "E.W." before and need to make some more comparisions. If the "480" wasn't on the tube, I might guess that ole Rob. purchased the reciever in the white from Mauser and purchased the tube in the rough from Sauer and made the barrel. Circa 1890, Sauer had a monopoly on Krupp tubes and if yours had the Krupp ring stamps, it still might be the case that Sauer made the tube in the rough and "E.W." did the fine work. The more I dig about the marks, the deeper the pit of marks becomes. It's akin to digging in sand or quicksand. It is interesting that around the mines and areas of raw materials that they gun making centers developed. For quality control of early Prussian military longarms you see many inhouse and crowned inspectors marks in fraktur or gothic script along with the proof eagles of Beschussadler neuer Art for post 1813 and pre-1891/1893 marks that are found on Dreyse and Mauser-Dreyse models. The crowned gothic script inspectors marks may be from earlier French occupation. Early all most of the weapons were produced at government arsenals at Danzig, Erfurt, Spandau and Amberg(Bavarian Arsenal) with support of private contractors like Greenwood & Batley Limited(Leeds), C.G. Haenel(Suhl), Mauser of course, Osterreichishch Waffen.(Steyr), National Arms & Ammunition Company Limited(Birmingham), Sp. & Sr.(Spangenberg & Sauer-Suhl) and V.C. Schilliing(Suhl). Erfurt is the result of Essen's rifle makers moving first to Saar in the Ruhr circa 1840 and on to Erfurt. Essen is where you'll find Krupp and the Krupp folk could also have been weapons makers before going totally to steel. Spandau was established in 1855 as a result of the Potsdam facility, which was founded in 1722, moving to Spandau. And of course the earlier unknown Peter Paul Mauser worked at the Wurttembert Government Arsenal/Armoury at Oberndorf. Having the employee records as well as subcontractor info would be of great benefit but it looks as if we'll just have to continue to guess and be awe struck by the puzzles.
I got on a tangent but was meaning to note that Mauser, Sauer, Simson, etc. had their own inhouse marks prior to the establishment of proofhouses circa 1890. I can't say if the same eagle proof mark had the same meaning or if there was some guy hired to spend a week a month at each facility administering the same stamp. The early stamps on the underside of the tubes ahead of the flats are quite interesting. On some Sauer longarms there is a lower case gothic "g" beside a gothic "K" and then a "H". The "g" could also be an upper case G atop a lower case and might stand for Gesetz Geschutz or registered design. I'm curious if the early pattern welded tubes utilized Krupp iron & steel thus the gothic script "K". According to W. von Menges, barrels on the German rifle Model 1849 had "Barrel browned, octagonal to the sight, then conical to the muzzle." Then later the barrels were polished instead of browned to show the slightest amount of oxidation so that they would be maintained. So would browned have the same definition as we know it today? The word "STAHL" atop the barrel in front of the receiver didn't appear to circa 1860-1870.
Kind Regards,
Raimey
rse
Last edited by ellenbr; 09/24/08 05:55 PM.
