Maybe assembly numbers? I will have to look, but that bump on the forend is typically seen on German wares...... I will have to check a bit....
Some aside info on the Ferlach mechanics and Josef Winkler that I stumbled across & thought might need to be resurrected:
The guilds kept a heavy thumb on the pyramid of craftsmen in that there were few master mechanics & many, many more apprentices, journeymen & skilled mechanics. Having a bias that the name atop the tubes of a sporting weapon is not the actual maker is generally a good stance, but it is possible with bespoken sporting weapons makers like the smaller ones in Ferlach that they played some part in the overall construction of the sporting weapons bearing their name. The larger concerns would source components and efforts from other gunmaking centers like Liege & Suhl/Zella Sankt Blasii - Mehlis in order to fill orders. I am not certain if Josef Winkler was a member of the Consortium or not but I am confident that he at a minimum sourced components and possibly some effort from the Consortium. A guess was that he had say 3 mechanics and possibly double that number of apprentices & journeyman and rolled out quality examples. Ferlach craftsmen are some of the best tube tuners around & their proximity to the local forest/shooting grounds provides an excellent opportunity to equip upper rung hunters with their whims.
Digging deeper in the sand pile of Ferlach gunmaking as the sand piles in on you, it appears highly probable that 2 gunmaking brothers Schaschl departed Liege to establish a dynasty of gunmaking in Ferlach in the late 1500s. Their families may have originated in Maastricht, Holland or mechanics from Maastricht, Holland were recruited. Premier Ferlach tube maker John Schaschl gives origins as far back as circa 1650 and has to be one of the descendants of the Brothers Schaschl, who would have provided a workshop for subsequent Ferlach mechanics to study and pass thru. Seems there is quite a story here also.
Serbus,
Raimey
rse
