What do we know about this --

http://www.gunsinternational.com/Oscar-A...un_id=100292385

Dave,

I do not find him in Vorisek or Sellers.

Pete

I'd bet that the barrels have LG proofmarks.

An educated guess is that Oscar A. Baer was a hardware merchant and had a store at 2050 Orleans Street, Baltimore, Maryland in the late 1890s and early 1900s. If anyone has access to the Baltimore City Directories for 1897, 1900 & 1901 additional info might be gleaned. An Oscar Baer of Baltimore married a Flora Young in September of 1895, so a wild guess is that he was born in the early to mid 1870s. I agree we will find it to be Belgian sourced as it has the Pieper monoblock appearance. My 1st thought is that Schoverling, Daly & Gales is somehow involved or whomever the Piper rep. was circa 1900.

Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse

Barrels look like it was made by Piper. Would guess it is made in Belgium.
Cheers,
Laurie

Seems as if an Ernest Johannesen of Johannesen Brothers hardware & paints acquired the business circa WWII or prior. They may be still in business so ringing them at 410.276.6363 might get them to fess up.

Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse

The step in the barrel would be from Pieper's original 1881 patent. The gun was sold as the Diana. In 1889 he redesigned the gun as the Modified Diana which had no step. So that pretty much dates this gun.

The Pieper Diana guns were sold in most catalogs of the day. It was no big deal to sell them. Any hardware store could carry them.

Baltimore city diectory 1899


Pete

Good find on the 2050 Orleans Street, Baltimore, Maryland for 1899. I think he would have been peddling it circa 1895. I would assume he was in the business by the time he was married and should have continued for say 40 years which would take him to the mid to late 1930s. It may be that Johannesen Bros. took it from there.

Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse

I do realize that Pieper's wares were available in U.S. of A. catalgoues but S,D&G employed folk that had all but, if not direct ties to Liege. I also realize the following Sept. 1882 Forest & Stream advert is over 10 years prior to the time period we are chasing, but typically if you are peddling something in a hardware store one would want to purchase from a source who could source the cheapest & that source was Schoverling, Daly & Gales. It is possible that there were changes in the name of H. Pieper's sole U.S. of A. agent but I think few if any could compete with S,D&G on price.



"Attested by the Jury, Klimm, Royal Inspector of Forests, Kevssler, Royal Inspector of Forests, Heise Inspector of Powder at Cologne, G. Hahn, record keeper. It will be noticed that the Pieper guns are especially effective at long range. Mr H Pieper has appointed the undersigned sole agent for the United States and Canada and offers the goods at prices far below their real worth in order to speedily introduce them into this market."

I would like to see an image of the buttplate.

Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse

Great research guys! Thank you.