doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion German & Austrian Sporting Guns @ doublegunshop.com please help identifying this ornate antique?

my great grandfather was a colonel under patton when he received this and 2 others in austria during ww2.
beyond this, i have no information or have any idea what the history is behind this firearm. any help is appreciated!

[img]http://postimg.org/image/wudgpfml7/[/img]

[img]http://postimg.org/image/yidt45w5v/[/img]

[img]http://postimg.org/image/6onn2u9hr/[/img]

You need to send us more pictures - this looks like a VERY interesting gun. The engraving and carving may help the real experts.

Love that "checkering".

First throw-a-dart: the "a Vienne" on the right barrel means "of/from Vienna", in French. The word on the left barrel, which I can't make out, is most likely either the maker's or retailer's name.

Second throw-a-dart: I'll guesstimate sometime in or before the 1860s-1870s, first-generation percussion and not converted from flintlock. Or, if it was converted, they hid it well.

To all appearances, a high-quality piece in very high condition. Might have been made in Austria for a Francophone market.

Hello Rrutter81

Welcome on your first posting and welcome to this site

A picture of the man on the trigger guard ??

Mike

I'm confident is it Johann Missillieur and he relocated to Praze in 1834 so it would date from 1830 - 1834. Looks to be Baroque and is that el Diablo on the trigger guard bow? Nice Bohemian accents - let's see el Diablo & ladies with fruit basket.

http://www.littlegun.info/arme%20autrichienne/ancien%20artisan/a%20missilieur%20johann%20gb.htm

Being from Lyon, that would explain the Missillieur � Vienne - almost all others would be in Wien.

Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse

It would appear that he also spelled his name Johann Mysillieur???

Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse

Maybe someone(M-4) can look in Der Neue Stockel but it would appear he had a sohn named name Jean Missillieur � Vienne that signed Baptiste - Missillieur � Vienne or J.B. Missillieur � Vienne that was active circa 1830 - 1850 but I don't believe it was him. Johann Missillieur may have moved to Praze & left it in his son's capable hands?

Johann Baptist Missillieur was born in Lyon, France in 1781. By 1821 he is recorded as a Master working in Vienna and by 1834 he was in Prague. He died in 1835.

I guess either one could have used Baptist Missillieur. Possibly Johann Baptist Missillieur & Jean Baptist Missillieur???

Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse

At one point I had chased him a bit:

"Your reference to Frantisek Novak/Nowak of Praze is most interesting. He too looks to have been a supplier to the Habsburg court also and supplied the family of Schwarzenberk. He like the others mentioned was an upper rung mechanic. Sources give he was born in 1784 but was a master gunsmith in Praze/Praha from 1821 forward to 1857 being the President/chairman(1st?) of the Praha gunsmith's guild from 1835 to 1838 and then again from 1844 to 1848. He should have attained his master gunsmith sheepskin circa 1808. Like Kirner he holds medals from the 1829, 1831 & 1836 Exhibitions in Praha. He like Johann Baptiste Missillieur, 1781 - 1835 who moved to Praha in 1834 after attaining the rank of master in Wien in 1821, came a bit later in their career to Praze/Praha and may have transferred technology. Johann Baptiste Missilieur held at least one patent, with some of his wares stamped with Millisieur � Vienna Patent. "

http://www.doublegunshop.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=279448&page=1


Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse

Gunwolf's contribution:



Jean Baptiste Missillieur arquebusier � Saint-Etienne en 1781. S'installe a Lyon, puis quitte la France.

Pierre Missillieux arquebusier de l'Empereur � Vienna vers 1850

Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse

wow!
You guys are too knowledgeable! I've scoured the net and couldnt find one shred of anything at all. I'll upload some more detailed pics if it helps confirm anything.
It really is an interesting piece, although im not an expert like you guys.

[img]http://postimg.org/image/e6jrr60bl/[img]
what appears to be miffilluur. not sure the variations

[img]http://postimg.org/image/yxq0bx47d/[/img]
acorn motif?

[img]http://postimg.org/image/ksrcy86xx/[img]
what appears to be a lion/serpeant biting

[img]http://postimg.org/image/mjx7xgazl/[/img]

man om the trigger guard looks like the devil

[img]http://postimg.org/image/6l6ffyh11/[/img]
two ladies with a fruit basket

[img]http://postimg.org/image/4lzvd34nr/[img]

a reference to what looks like "wienn" although it could be "vienn"