From time to time the name Otto Reif Suhl surfaces as a waffenhändler on sporting weapons. Seems there is little info less what Mr. Apel has penned in some of GGCA's publications. Most of these examples surface in Russia which tends to support that Otto Reif was selling wares with his named stamped on them to Russian officers post WWII. By 1952 he was run out on a rail from Suhl. I don't believe we will see an example here in the U.S. of A. but I guess it is possible. Some like the following have surfaced recently & it piqued my interest on just who was Otto Reif. From an empirical stance, when you look at the marks on Otto Reif Suhl examples they always wear Simson marks. So I guess there's a clue. So I dug deeper and yes used car salesman Otto Reif worked for the auto arm of Simson & Company right after WWI if not in 1920. Seems there was some issue with accidents in Simson vehicles and liability fingers were pointing and the issue may have been attributed to tyre blow-outs. Anyway by Sept. 1924 Otto Reif found himself around such an incident & he may have resolved it himself. At this time or a little later he became a director in the Simon & Company auto arm and he is labeled as Autohändler. By 1930 he is involved in a criminal suite dealing with autos and it may be here that he loss his car dealership privileges. But, but he resurfaces in 1934/1934 and it may be he was a waffenhändler which lasts till about 1952. My crystal ball tells me that he siphoned off components or sporting weapons in the white from Simson & Company as the firm is hijacked. Who would miss a few thousand components??? About this time or a little later in 1945 I think he teamed up with Edgar Strempel for his wares or he sourced Edgar Strempel, who post WWII seemed to have an inside track to Simson & Company components as many of his examples wear Simson type touchmarks. I haven't seen a sufficient number of marks on either Otto Reifs or Edgar Strempel's wares to confirm this, but the data is leaning that way.




1946 Otto Reif








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