Any Franz Denk in Wien fans?? I know there are 2 or 3 threads around here where he retailed longarms made in Auustria & Suhl, Germany. It may take me some time to tell his tale, but indeed it is an interesting one and he even rented weapons for you to shoot @ the kaiserlich-königlich(k.k.) Garnisonsschiessstätte im Prater Scheibengattungen. Now I am not positive on exactly where he was driving the bus of the Vienna Rifle Club(Öesterreichischen Omnibus Gesellschaft) to which shooting grounds but it was either the Prater Amusement Park on the West side of the Danube or the Schießplatz Kagran / „k. k. Garnisonsschießplatz“ Kagran(Militär-Schießstätte)on the East side of the Danube about 18 km from Ecke der Nordbahnstrasse or the corner of Nordbahn Street / Praterstern, which I assume was a Rail Stop. He would get you back to the same spot by dinnertime. The Kagran shooting grounds was originally just for the Military in 1871 but at some point the Vienna Shooting Club rented a portion of it & that where they had the „Berlin“, „Frankfurt“ & „Heimat“ stands. Also there were several target pistol ranges where the distances were of course in paces. Always remember in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the distances are paces not metres.
Franz Denk bürgerlichen Büchsenmacher in Wien advertised as Vereinsbüchsenmacher Franz Denk des Wiener Schützenvereines - k k Garnisonsschiessstätte im Prater Scheibengattungen(or some variant thereof) or Club Gunsmith of the of the Viennese Shooters Club where he offered his services to the Premisso Titulo Shooters and Guest his well regulated shotguns, target rifles or breech-loading pistols, which all could be purchased or rented. He was a specialist in scatterguns and very accurate breech-loading target pistols to 200, 300 paces.... Whatever was there. He had a very interesting business modell which I hope to fully comprehend.
Vereinsbüchsenmacher Franz Denk was too an accomplished shooter in his own right with awards of trophies & coins? Not sure of when he was born or died, but he appears in the mid 1880s and then fades into the sunset by the mid 1930s where he was awarded the Austrian Title of Kommerzialrar or deserving entrepreneurs. As I understand it, an Austrian really did fancy a title, much like the Brits. But one title that he acquired was one of the very last, if not the last Büchsenmachers to have been dubbed k.u.k.(kaiserlich-königlich) Hofbüchsenmacher as Franz Denk bürgerlichen Büchsenmacher in Wien received his in January 1918 and the Austro-Hungarian Empire fell apart in November 1918.
He seemed to have a close working relationship with Kalezky, Springer and possibly another or 2 Gunsmiths in Vienna. He may have had the same arrangement as Kalezky & Springer had in that each didn't siphon off adept mechanics from the other. Although I am not sure how many, if any, that bürgerlichen Büchsenmacher Franz Denk. With driving the shooting grounds bus he had to have some help???
If anyone has an offering by Vereinsbüchsenmacher Franz Denk, I for one would very much like to see it. Of course there is always more to the story...
Oh, oh, oh bürgerlichen Büchsenmacher Franz Denk, much like Charles Daly, did donate items for prizes for the top shooters. So this modell may have been typical for the time or one got the idea from the other??
Serbus,
Raimey
rse
