OMG, this is the sixth Hermann Gring gun in America brought to my attention during the last 3 years! One appears to have been fabricated by Gring's favorite gunmaker post-45, one had a presentation plate that clearly refers to another "HG", the rest are only engraved with the initials "HG" like this one. All were liberated by some American soldier somewhere in Germany in 1945. Now, it is sort of a "running gag" in movies and screenplays on the immediate post-war period , some witty German small boy selling stuff with happenchance initials like AH, HG, HH to a silly GI, swearing it certainly was the personal property of some NAZI great. A similar thing happened a few years ago when someone "found" the "diaries of Adolf Hitler". I guess from the number of "H.G."s listed in my local telephone directory, the total German population and the number of hunting licenses issued in 1938 there must have been about 2800 German hunters then named HG. Handwork, especially engraving, was cheap then. FI the ca1930 WUM export catalog lists a comparable sidelock o/u ejector at $ 405.-, highest quality engraving of a very similar pattern would have set you back additional $89.50.
Hermann Goering never had personal belongings signed with a mundane "HG"! Instead, all the things documented to him are engraved with his personal crest or coat of arms. This consists of an iron-clad arm holding a ring, topped with a winged helmet. Apparently Gring designed this crest to remember his WW1 days as a fighter pilot ace. His nickname then was "Der Eiserne" = The Iron One.
Here it is painted on the skull of a famous stag trophy he shot near Rominten, now in the Munich hunting museum.
Examples of his crest on guns may be seen in Jon Speed: Original Oberndorf Sporting Rifles, page 268 on the floorplate of a Mauser actioned rifle, and in DWJ 11/2004, page 50 on the toplever of an o/u sl doublerifle.
IMHO all the guns without this crest, only signed "HG", never passed the hands of the then Reichsjgermeister!
