Ferlach has a long gunmaking tradition and like the Bohemians of Weipert seem to have an influence from the Turks and Venetians in that they are true artisians. Many of the attributes attributed as being Germanic are actually from Austria such as the cheek pieces and deep relief engraving. Up until the time of the forming of the Consortium/Cooperative in 1885, with an Austrian gunmaking school being founded in 1878, Ferlach was one big custom gunshop even more so that Suhl. One craftsman’s shop made actions, one made tubes, one made bolts, one was a stocker, etc. The Consortium/Cooperative allowed the Ferlach craftsmen to embrace mechanization without the burden of the same expense of the same equipment at each shop; whereas, the craftsmen of Suhl utilized military contract to provide funding for sporting gun production. Some sources give that Belgian craftsmen were imported during times of high demand and upon completion returned home. But Wiepert wasn’t even as lucky as Germany and the individual craftsman, who didn’t want to embrace mechanization, fell prey to military production thru mechanization. I think it was the remote location, reputation as spread by king and court and the Consortium/Cooperative that allowed the craftsmen of Ferlach to hold fast to tradition of a bespoken gun, of which a “one off” of anything can still be made there today. Yes indeed they too experienced difficult times in say the 1860s when the craftsmen made ends meet by making eating utensils, household items as well as coffee grinders. I think it was then during the conflict with Prussia that they developed the foresight to go the sporting route, invest in mechanization and being a structured training program to all but guarantee the long tradition of handmade sporting guns. True there was a program in place for an apprentice, then for a journeyman to make a pretty big walkabout and then return for a 2 year stint with a Ferlach master. So an example made in Ferlach is nothing less than top-notch. Your example was probably made during the end of WWII and completed after the Brits issued the number scheme. At that time they used whatever components they could scrounge but I can't say that your sideplated boxlock seems to suffer any loss. Boehler steel stamp, which was a staple, but I'm still curious of the marks ahead of the flats.
Any chance you could glass those marks ahead of the flats and describe them, that is if those are actually marks on the inside of the tubes?
Kind Regards,
Raimey
rse
