And one point I forgot to make, which I think to be quite telling, is that these courts they were supplying were non-reining or non-governing houses and this Fürst Joseph cat was a botanist:

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_zu_Salm-Reifferscheidt-Dyck

I'm sure some of the others they mention were on the throne like Königlich Preußen Kaiserlich Rußland but the entity that actually dubbed many of these waffenhändlers were more or less figure-heads than bona fide rulers. So it was really just fluff & advertising. I believe the advertising on the sporting weapon of interest was a truncated version of H. Barella Königlich Preußen(Preußischer?) Kaiserlich Rußland HofBüchsenmacher Berlin. In 1871 he acquired some the title Kaiserlich-Königlicher Hofbüchsenmacher in Berlin, so I wonder if from 1865 - 1871 he was without title?

Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse