doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion German & Austrian Sporting Guns @ doublegunshop.com Kalezky-ana et al.

Text and photos by Felix Neuberger
It has been one dismantled drilling, a sidelock by Johann Kalezky's Witwe, which has triggered this post.
This is complemented by 3 other and different types of Kalezky sidelock guns, which I had the chance to strip and which all together have led me to try to contribute a little more to the Kalezky-saga.
DGJ autumn 1999 had my article on this enigmatic Viennese "boutique" gunmaker, preceeded by weeks-long research in different Viennese institutions, but mainly browsing through 50 years of Vienna proofhouse records. This was my first task in retirement, not anymore possible because access is shutdown by the legal counsel of the ministry. There has been a follow-up on this in DGJ spring 2011 (Austrian jewels). In addition there have been questions in Internet fora and contacts to me via DGJ or Internet by Russians. I would pay a fortune for the Kalezky records, but there is no indication that they did survive in any form. So any answer on a provenance-question is scarce or can not be answered at all.
The last info on Johann Kalezky ( the younger) is an entry in Viennese address book of 1942. There have been heavy bombing air raids onto Vienna during WW II and it is not known if he survived those.

Here come the 4 guns I could see and some more

Sidelock drilling
I have been impressed when I saw the "nuts/bolts/levers"
for the rifle barrel, the sidelocks are rather typical
backaction locks.
The barrels are 12-bore above a 400/360 according the owner.
The photos show Suhl-(pre)proof with "Krupp Essen" on
the gun-barrel flats, Vienna nitro-proof AND within
the Viennese records NO indication that source is Suhl.
Ergo gun finished in Vienna.
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/51020
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/51021
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/51022
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/51023
Sidelock 16-bore
Originated in the 1990's in US in incredibly crisp/near-new
condition. Intercepting sear acting on the top of the
tumbler ( a la Boss), safety catch operated by a small rod
from the closing bolt. Barrels by E.Joris&Co of Nessonvaux,
Liege preproof, Vienna nitro, NO Liege remark as origin,
ergo finished in Vienna
Lock internals
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/51117
Gunplate - in black (not casecoloured)
according catalogue Kalezky calls this "Schweizer Oxyd"
(i.e.Swiss Oxyd), info from a Ferlach guru this has been
a "Beize" (mordant) no longer in use today
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/51118
Sidelock 16-bore pair
Sold in 20xx by granddaughter of the original owner, from an Austrian castle/estate. Intercepting sear acting on the underside of the tumbler (a la Holland).
Liege barrel preproof, makersmark JBC within oval,acier Cockerill barrels, nitro proof Vienna, no remark of Liege origin,ergo finished in Vienna
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/51121

Sidelock over-under combo
Emerged in 201x, 9-pin lock with intercepting sear acting on underside of tumbler, striker spring-operated, no engraving -just name script,oblique tumbler-head for angle-correct blow. Technically a much more solid combo than the ubiquitous 7-pin models, due to VCS (V.C. Schilling) mark barrel ex Suhl,
records quote inland,
ergo finished in Vienna
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/51010
(for comparison photo of a 7-pin lock added)
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/51019

Hammergun in deluxe version
Founders name on barrel, owning collector passed away few years ago, collection dispersed by the kids, whereabout unknown
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/51011
Another hammerrifle in deluxe version
Photo taken years ago in a Czech museum.
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/51012
There could have been more of Kalezky deluxe gun photos
over the years, but an owners wish "no photo, no
remark/comment neither oral or written" has to be respected.

Kalezky 20-bore nr. 3 ex Ukrainian Internet (nr. 2498)
I thought orginally due to Internet-lviv Address this could be a Kalezky retailed by Dmytrach from Lemberg/Lvov/now Lviv in Ukraine.
Additional photos which showed up later may tell another story. The barrel-flats show script of DIANAFA SZOMBAT..
Szombathely is a town in south-western Hungary and DIANA may be the name of a gunshop in this town. So an alternative could as well be that this is a WW II booty.
This nr.3 has not been proofed in one batch with the
nr.1 and 2. Question arises which are the pairing guns:
Pair of 20 bores have been proofed in 1912 with
proof-nr 1452/1453 and 3074/3075, none in 1911,
proof-nr 80/81 in 1910, earlier years I did not check.
Barrel of this nr. 3 has JBC-mark in oval and cockerill
trade name. It looks to me as if this has been buried,
may be not in a pigstable but in a not much less corro-friendly
environment.
This is one more "open trio" of Viennese high-end-shotguns.
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/51073
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/51074

A Kalezky 12 bore went years ago to Hungary, the pairing
gun emerged now in a Russian Internet.

A Kalezky 12-pair has been reunited 20 years after the first
emerged. The nr.2 with the typical specs for a hare-battle
gun, full choke in both barrels, min thicknesses 30+ thou,
tight actions and ribs... with these specs as a bird gun
only for chaps with olympic skills.
By oral tradition this belonged to the forester of
a big Czech estate.

Kalezky guncases

The few I have seen had some specific features.
Name/address embossed directly in gold letters on the inside textile-cover . Worms like this and esp. the animal-hide-glue used to fix it on the cover.
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/51014
One photo shows a case pre-1889, the other one post-1889. The older one has brass corners with "Scottish" shape, the younger one with brass corners which are thinner and with a larger radius than on English ones.
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/51013
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/51104
Photo courtesy Bonhams/ Springer rifle case with this
type of rounded (probably drawn) corners
At the right back corner is a spring-operated hold-open lever.
There are normally 3 big compartments, one for the barrel , another one for stock /action and one for accoutrements(with cover).
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/51103
Photo courtesy Bonhams / Springer rifle case with this
hold-open feature
Sometimes on the right -hand outside front corner name and calibre embossed. Have as well seen walnut in use for the case-body. Cover textile is padded and there is a small glue-strip along the sides to fix it on the cover, the padding is not glued.
One photo added to show the worm-damage at the glue-strip of a Springer rifle-case.
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/51015

Johann Kalezky ( the elder and founder) passed away in 1889 and his widow Bertha took over ownership of the company.
The guns one encounters today normally date from post-1889
and have the script with the ... Witwe wording on the
barrel, but just Joh. Kalezky on action and plates.
One may wonder how the 29-year old widow could run such a
busines in a man-dominated customer set.
Long before my research and the article I had a comment from
a Viennese lawyer that due to oral tradition the company
was run by their "Werkmeister"/workshop-manager Mr. Hanusch.
He celebrated 40 years of continued service to the
company in 1910, never one day sick or blue.
There is Mr. Crudginton's remarkable trilogy on English
gunmaking, paying tribute to the real inventors and thus
naming the 2 famous English over/unders by their real
inventors Boss/Henderson and Woodward/Hill.
I guess that Kalezky's patent for the falling-block
double rifle has not been the genius-stroke of the widow
Bertha Kalezky but rather that of Mr. Hanusch.

What remains and I have no answer to it is the question
who built these different types of locks as being in use
on the sidelock guns.

There is a comprehensive article in the Internet
on the Wolverhampton lockmakers, with the big 3 names of
Stanton/Chilton/Brazier and all the others one may
find on the internals of English lockplates.
A wonderful example of Taylor's principle of work-
differentiation.
No comparable signature/documentation with all this Kalezky stuff.
Lock making requires a very distinct set of tools/gauges and I wonder who did the work on this different Kalezky weapon-locks.
Either bought in in the white with the lockplates already on .... or some lonesome lockmaking-guru in a backyard within the 2 famous workshop districts of imperial Vienna ... or in Hradec Kralove .. or in Fert�rakos.
We dont know.
There exist a 720+ pages 2-volumes work on Viennese
gold-/silversmiths and their proofmarks between 1867-1922, issued 1976/1977.
Today there is just one silversmith with a workshop in Vienna.
Can we expect a fraction of such effort on the former Viennese gunmaking fraternity ?
Cui bono has been Cicero's citation.

I add here a summary of new weapons the Kalezky shop
submitted for proof in the Vienna proofhouse between
1900 and 1915. This is an extract of my notes I took
during my research for my DGJ article.
These are my 18-year old notes, dont take them as
court/auditor proof.
I did not check
any Weipert or Ferlach records for his entry there.
Not included are proofs of handguns,autoloader(Browning),
bolt-action, Winchester, reproofs/repair.
Inland means simply home-made, some records show as source
L�ttich(Liege),Suhl,Weipert,England.
As the first 4 guns show, even Non-Vienna marks on
barrel could qualify the gun as Inland/home-made
depending on the volume of finishing work undertaken.
For simplification reasons I have assumed that this
reflects his production.

Year Inland Total Shotgun Liege Suhl Weipert England

1900 19 19 16 - - - -
1901 18 18 10 - - - -
1902 36 38 33 - - - 2
1903 32 32 23 - - - -
1904 22 23 15 - 1 - -
1905 16 19 15 2 1 - -
1906 25 28 20 - 1 - 2
1807 20 21 15 - 1 - -
1908 14 15 9 - 1 - -
1909 25 27 19 - - 2 -
1910 50 53 24 1 2 - -
1911 60 69 40 3 4 2 -
1912 87 119 87 20 6 6 -
1913 53 69 56 9 3 - 4
1914 38 41 35 1 2 - -
1915 1 2 - - 1 - -
-------------------------------------------------------
Total 516 593 417 36 23 10 8
...Total foreign 77...

Our neighbouring Hungarians, descendants of an Asian tribe,
quickly realized the chances at hand after the communist
lost control and the country was free.
There are many nouveau riches,the parking lots before the
major shopping mall south of Vienna with comfortable
Porsche-Cayenne or -Panamera with Hungarian plates.
I am told there is not only a Hungarian F�ckert club
but also a Holland club.
So here would be the ultimate kick for one of these
Puszta cowboys with an archeo-interest.
The last pair of 20-bore Kalezkys has been split between the
members of the well-known Storno-family of Sopron during
the 1930's.One is somewhere in Austria, the second was
hidden during communist times inside the Storno-museum
in Sopron.When the museum was up for refurbishing, the
gun was secured and got buried in a garden opposite
the L�ver-bath /Sopron, the parcel belonging to the
late Karl Storno.

Label photos
Kalezky pre-1889
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/51004
Kalezky post-1889
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/51003
Mulacz
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/51005
J. Nowotny / Praha (Prague)
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/51006
I understand from 2 different sources that there exist
descendants. So after the Weipert book has now appeared
may be someone will undertake the endeavour to come up with
a more complete Nowotny-story than my DGJ article
from winter 1995.
Johann Springer's Erben
Guncase labels
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/51084
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/51102
Springer guncase label dated 1938 / no imperial crown
anymore /Photo courtesy Bonhams
Guncase accoutrements
An oilbottle with the engraved script on the body
together a rare type of grease-pot
(domed cover with central hole, grease squeezed out
when turning/screwing-home the cover)
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/51085

To round up the story I have added a vintage photo of a
trap shoot somewhere in the Austro-Hungarian empire.
A time when the trap was a trap and pigeons were
pigeons and the gents properly clad with a top- or
bowler-hat and not yet a walking Litfass-column.
Also a time when a militant animal-protection-
apostle , obsessed with PR,
would not dare to command his cackling girlie-squadron
into a shoot to disturb it ....
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/51018

Felix

Interesting - will you tell us where you found these numbers?
Some curious questions:
I understand the majority of Kalezky's business were shotguns?
So just as an example, this rifle here
https://www.dorotheum.com/auktionen/aktu...lezky-wien.html
would be one of the 8 "non-shotguns" of 1906 (or later, as the year of proof may not be the year of sale..)

Would "Inland" mean "produced inhouse", or include guns sourced from Ferlach, Wr. Neustadt etc.?
Why is Weipert, then Bohemia listed as foreign?

Best regards
fuhrmann

To Fuhrmann & others
Gentlemen, patience please.
Have 3 pages of text and many photos
Will do complete staffwork.
Felix

Felix

thanks, this is very interesting!
Today one does first think of rifles from Ferlach but not of shotguns from Austria.
But in the times of the k.u.k. empire, small game was abundant especially in Moravia, Bohemia, Hungary, and Vienna certainly was a good market for high-end shotguns.

fuhrmann

Postscriptum to above:
I got forwarded by Springer/Vienna an e-mail ex Belorus asking details on a
FR. NEUBER gun existing in this country.
An e-mail in perfect German and also very kind.
When browsing through the proofrecords of Vienna for the initial
Kalezky article I have seen
more entries there than just the big two, namely Kalezky and Springer.
One would find Neuber, Linsbauer,Stawinoha and many more.
It has been also my intention to come up with a summary on these
lesser known. But with the denial of further access to the
proofrecords, the game is over.
Now after Wikileaks, omnipresent NSA, Charlie Hebdo & Bataklan
/Paris the administration may have become more cautious
about non-working retirees digging into Austria's glorious
gunhistory.
I could obvously escalate the non-access to the
regional Hunting-Kapo, but I do not consider to do it and
will refrain from commenting on this gentleman, as this
is a gun-forum and not a place for polemics.
Re Franz Neuber from Wiener Neustadt :
Killed in one of the bombing raids during WW II (this town
has seen the third-heavist bombing of Europe).
I located 2 men in/near Wr. Neustadt, one son of the
last Neuber-trainee, the other one son of the previous-
to-last Neuber trainee. There is a catalogue,
the place where the salesshop has been is known, as well
that of the factory.
What happened to the content is not known, looted or
finally confiscated by the Russian occupation forces.
I come back as I have got now a catalogue of
Franz Neuber & Sohn Gewehrfabrik.
I include some photos out of it.
What does this 191x catalogue tell us:
1. It must have been a solid business in this provincial/
industrial town of Wiener Neustadt, as it was already
transferred/run by the son.
2. Weapons with rifle barrels apparently have been the
dominant segment (boltaction,combos,drillings),
even drillings in sidelock version
3. The shotgun-section has hammerguns,3 Ansons-which
look to me like Weipert/Suhl/Liege-origin, no
high-end sidelock
Front page of catalogue
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/51098
Backpage of catalogue
There is a medal shown dated 1910, which allows to
date it as post 1910, the currency being crown could
be pre 1925 ( the introduction of the currency Schilling,
but probably pre 1918/end of monarchy)
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/51099
Catalogue-photo of a sidelock drilling
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/51100
Catalogue-photo of a double-rifle-drilling
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/51101
In the introductory page is the comment that the factory is
run by the son.
I asked the owner of the catalogue - son of one of the
Neuber's gunsmiths - if there exist any memorabilia
after his father. Answer: His mother had fled the
town, his father has been prisoner-of-war, when he returned
he found his appartment looted and occupied
by someone else. So this trail is void and I do not
intend to find/pursue any other trail in this bombing/looting/confiscation story....

Fr. Neuber de luxe gun
Photo taken 9 yeas ago
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/51016

...Kalezky addendum...
When editing the Neuber-post I got into my e-mail-inbox
- surpringly -
a dozen of photos of a vintage rifle.Looking on them I did not
believe what I saw , it must have been the ultimate kick for the collector of a vintage rifle. A Kalezky falling block single
shot in NEW condition. Built 1906, the proof mark & record
show 10,7 as calibre, all the hardening colour , the stock
hardly any mark/bruise, checkering crisp, no sign of "being
done up for sale". It turned out that it did emerge in a
local Viennese auction, made 4,5 times the original estimate
and was sold to a collector outside Austria. I did not
look at it at auction time as weapons for game which does
not fly are not my matter.
It is a Austro/Scottish joint venture, the system is a
Henry hammer falling block, with elements of an Ischler Stutzen, fully stocked with a stag horn piece ending, barrel internally mirror-clean. It is not known if Henry supplied the system
or it is Kalezky-shop made.
This system may have been the spark that Werkmeister Hanusch came along with the Kalezky-patented falling block double
rifle.
(There has been one on the market in US recently)
Clarification of the exact calibre is ongoing. There is
speculation that it may be Springer's propriatory 10,75x52R.
If this is the case then there may be a story behind this.
Austrian crown prince Franz Ferdinand hunted in Egypt also crocs. A very proficient shot he did not bag what he shot
because the crocs still could make it into the water.
He returned very annoyed
and complained to Springer that - as successor to the throne-
is serviced with unusable weaponry.
Springer's answer was a.m. cartridge.
How can it be that after 110 years this rifle is still
like new.
May be the original customer did not return from WW I, may
be the cartridges were not available for 90/80/70 years...
If it emerged in Austria how did it survive the all confiscating
Russian invasion of 1945, when many guns in the country side
were buried at places where a Russian soldier would not
dig/open, preferably pig stables, an environment not very corro-proof.

http://www.jpgbox.com/page/51027
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/51028
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/51029
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/51030
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/51078
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/51079

There may be an answer to the calibre question.
I attach here 4 pages of a 3-pages promo-flyer and page
28 of the Kalezky catalogue.
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/51060
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/51061
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/51062
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/51072
Catalogue cover
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/51068
4 pages from the Kalezky catalogue
sidelock double gun - top model
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/51109
corresponding explanatory text
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/51110
sidelock double rifle - top model
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/51111
Guncase details
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/51112
I have taken a look on Austrian prices and income in 1914:
Workers monthly income 99 crown, man suit 45 crown,
1 kg bread 0,32 crown.
That means a top grade Kalezky shotgun was about
8 months income of a worker.
(Side-remark: If one takes 1914 price-index at 100 crown, the
index for 1918 was 1120, for 1921 16905 and for 1924 1378900.)
But happily there are still countries where a $ was/is a $
and also a GBP was/is a GBP).
Letter to a Kalezky customer ; postage stamp from 1931
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/51075

The last page of the promo-flyer has calibre quotations.
The upper one is on this 10,75 mm .
I checked if in the original this is a 1:1 scaling, answer
is yes, the ubiquitous 9,3x74R shows a cartridge
length of 74.
So the big one is 10,75 x 68 R (+-).
The two Viennese cartridge gurus I knew are gone since long,
I assume someone in GGCA or in great old Germany knows
this by heart.
To translate:
10,75 Vo 725 ms, energy 600 mkg powder 5g
9,3 Vo 750 ms, energy 550 mkg powder 4,5 g
7,9 Vo 950 ms, energy 460 mkg powder 4 g

These loadings and Vo's were based on the new rifle-powder
to be introduced in Austria ( at this past time).
These are their Africa-loadings, for European use
they recommended a ligther-version with less powder and
less bullet-weight.
The catalogue page shows for their Euro-load 3,5 g for the
10,75.
In addition these loads would also apply for Rottweil
powder 1293.

Preach on as we wait w/ baited breath..... I've always wanted to be on a good cocodrilo hunt.


Cheers,

Raimey
rse

Johann Kalezky Wien DR in 9.3x74R with Kalezky Patent atop the block

Was it this variety of falling block? Also, examples suggest that Johann Kalezky sourced Alex Henry for components and were possibly chummy. Have you an information that there was a direct relationship between Alex Henry & Johann Kalezky?

Cheers,

Raimey
rse

To Raimey and others:
My previous post will have as the first 2 photos from
this promoflyer pictures of their double-rifle falling
block.
I assume that they did not build the systems piece-by-piece
but had some system of optimal lot-size.
(A common question in university examens).
Some questions and no answers:
- What happened to the batch of raw-parts once
the horror of WW I had started.
- Did they continue to build after WW I

My impresssion is that some systems were left over
- even after WW II - and finally used up.
The proofmark would tell the story.

According Hans Jiricek ( now aged 86 and still toiling at the bench )there has been a gentleman agreement between Kalezky
and Springer not to unhook each others gunsmiths.
This came to an end when by the end of the 1920's
Springers business was booming and that of Kalezky rather
poor, so some of the Kalezky crew moved to Springer.

This is not only reflected with the number of items
submitted to proof but also visible with a Kalezky flyer from
end 1931 with just 2-pages of retail-guns, no high-end stuff
anymore.
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/51071
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/51070
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/51067
As to the question of business relationship between
Kalezky and Henry, the book of Jonathan Kirton/British
falling block rifle may
provide some insight.
This book has a very detailed list of Henry rifles
and their customers. Beside others also some
wellknown aristo names (Kinski,Nadasdy,..) of the
Austro-Hungarian empire, also 2 Henry rifles shipped
to the Vienna exhibition of 1873 and one full page 43
of a Ferlach/Henry joint venture with a rather unknown
retailer from the province.

I guess that Kalezky took/used the Henry system the same
style he used the prefabricated Belgian or Suhl barrels
for shotgun or drilling.
For both sides a win-win situation.

To conclude here is a photo of an ad page of the
contemporary hunting magazine, showing on the same
page Henry's ad and also Kalezky's ad.
What an absolute ad show by the Scot Henry about his royal appointments
HIM queen Victoria, HRH prince of Wales, HRH Duke of Sachsen
Coburg etc etc.
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/51063
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/51064
As told in my neighbouring post (Creeping Orwellian ...)
we are all missing hard and positive photo facts on these royal
adventures. Instead we get to see - in Dave Carrie's
great clip on Warter Priory - affluent commoners with
long-barrelled O/U Berettas and Brownings and other Japanese
weapons and in the yellow press this brace of ugly
pet dogs of the present queen. We are waiting to see instead alma mater Victoria with her x-th stag .....

Lovely addendum and sleuthing. Provide access to the images & I'll get them on the page.

Cheers,

Raimey
rse

Thanks to Moose Snoot of Sweden.

Cheers,

Raimey
rse

Prologue: I want to confirm here that I have no family-ties
nor any association with the Springer-family/company
of Vienna
------------
Enough is enough of this necrological sentiment for these bygone
gunmakers Franz Neuber & Sohn from Wiener Neustadt and Johann
Kalezky's Witwe from Wien.
What does the future hold ?
There still exists Johann Springer's Erben from Wien.
The present owner has 6 kids between 2 months and 20 years, so still a long way for him to go. When he took over the company from his mother a couple of years ago, he was aware that he can not
make a living on building high end guns.
If you observe the 3 big Londoners, the picture is not very different. Boss has the 4th owner within 16 years, the MTBS (mean-time-between-sacking)-rate of a Holland-CEO has now stabilized
and Purdey after having abandoned the used-gun sector
has now returned to it.
And an English dealer told me some time ago that they all
make a loss.
But there is Nick Holt's auctionshop running well.
Springer started as a sub to Nick, but soon realized that
there may be more in this business segment and opened his own
auctionhouse.
And now the Brexit-decision has happened.
I have full sympathy for the English buccaneers - after having
defeated the Spanish armada, the French at Trafalgar and
finally twice the Germans ( with a little help from their
transatlantic cousins)- for not willing to be ruled by someone
from overseas Europe and even worse from Berlin.
One of the 2 Brexit-clowns - this old chap with the
wild blond-coloured tuft of hair -
went immediately to the Sultan of Ankara and came back with the message that he reached already a jumbo-deal with him.
Can we expect now that the
Purdey Sporter is sourced in future from Erzurum in Eastern
Anatolia instead of the Italian Brescia ?
My impression is that Brexit is a booster for Springer's auction
shop. I had a chat there with 2 Americans, one of them dealer/
collector, I have seen half-a-bus of Czech visitors at his
viewing room. An Italian high-end pair sold to US, a complete
Parabellum collection from outside Austria in the last auction.
The collection of 2 friends of mine ended up there....
economy is a question of trust/confidence...why to send stuff to the Brexit-country when the currency gurus are telling that the GBP will go below 1:1 and its more secure and comfortable
just a taxi-drive away....
What I like with his auctions is the silent/sealed-bid part,
a fabulous "flea"-market. In there always an heartwarming
item.
The last one had a Ferlach-made O/U, with nice engraving,
12 bore 2 3/4 proof, good barrel-thicknesses (measured
by me) and this solid and tight Kersten+double-under-bolt
system. At a ridiculous next-to-nothing price.
All in need for a strip-clean-oil.
Another example has been a Belgian boxlock with a Polish
retailer name in crisp/near-new state.
Having engineering background I am always amazed to see
how technicalities are either a negligeable
matter or do not count at all.
You may ask me why then I am sticking to a Purdey from 1902.
Its simply a matter of beauty & "gun-holder-value" (resale-value is such an ugly word) - which is ruled like lady's fashion by social
perception and not by inherent technicalities.
------------
Epilogue:
There is glorious America, at the moment an offering of a
Springer sidelock gun-pair for 28000 US-$, given its origin something for a member of the Romanian diaspora in the US.
A sideplated Springer boxlock double rifle in original case for 24000 US-$.
Bonhams has in the next auction a Springer double rifle at estimated min. 9000 GBP -> ca 14000 Euro incl.
Final: I have serious doubts that anyone of the finance-
sharks who have bought these 3 Londoners will
ever consider to
open an auction-house under the gunmaker-brand-name he
has bought.

A Kalezky 20 bore from 1916 in an Russian Internet forum.
Location southern Russian town of Krasnodar.
For the first time seen with the Witwe script on the sidelock-plate.
Witwe script and Poldi anticorro script on the barrel
look genuine.
Unusual the backsight on a shotgun.
I remember that during the time of the Russian occupation
of eastern Austria from 1945 to 1955 rifled barrels were prohibited.
I doubt that Kalezky delivered a shotgun during WW I/1916
to an enemy-country.
The history of rifle-barrel prohibition in Russia is not
known to me , but I guess that someone added the backsight to
this shotgun to have it more suitable also for slug-shooting.
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/51462
Felix Neuberger

Above link

Another Kalezky sidelock drilling
..All photos courtesy Joh. Springer's Erben/auction-shop...
This time emerged in Springer/Vienna auction april 20 lot 159.
Their gunsmith kindly disassemblied it so I could take
photos on the internal mechanism.
It has sidelocks plus a trigger-plate based lock for
the rifle barrel ("Blitz-Schloss"),Kalezky serial nr. is
2469, shotgun-barrels are 16/65 above rifle-barrel
of 6,5x58R.
A rare case, as aristo-provenance is known this time.
Year of proof is 1912, the one from
the first post in this thread same year of proof and
Kalezky serial nr. is 2517.
Photos:
The pair of sidelocks, no signature visible internally.
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/51605
Internal mechanism
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/51606
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/51607
Backside of the action ("Bask�l")
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/51608
For comparison Kalezky-lock to Merkel-303 lock
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/51609
Nicely engraved crosspin and lockplate-screw
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/51610
Stock - cracked - with barrel-switch and partial view
of the crisp/perfect inlaying of the spring-areas within
the stock
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/51611
.....
For any stocking-interested guru:
Hans Jiricek, who few minutes ago told me that he
"plans to retire" at his 90th birthday, uses to fix/repair
a crack like above using "Kornell-Kirsche"-wood
(lat. cornus mas/vulgo-name "Dirndl") in a tongue-and-groove (in German:Nut-und-Feder) approach as usual in cabinet-making.
This is a wild-fruit tree, with its yellow flowers already beginning march the first spring-time messenger, normally a multiple-trunk shrub, very slowly growing,
with the highest strength-values of middle-European woods...

A Kalezky curiosity.
..Photo courtesy Joh. Springer's Erben..
It is a combo, pre 1870,with the wording of "Anton Mulacz"
on the barrel - a court supplier - and the curious
"KALLEZKI" wording on the lock-plate.
I have no clue on this wording.
From a linguistic point this looks rather like an
Italian name with the double "LL" and the ending letter "I".
However the other lockplate has the wording "IN WIEN".
Felix Neuberger
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/52023
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/52024

For Felix:

The Kalezky sidelock drilling finally sold like a previously mentioned sidelock combo to a gunmaker in a neighbouring country.
So with a new stock for the drilling and scopes , both
weapons will get a new lease of life.
Felix Neuberger

Mr. Peter Gr�nauer, bookbinder, witty and sarcastic Viennese
gentleman, has passed away suddenly. He made for me the Kalezky-repro-guncase-label, featuring below. He had the old typeset incl. the imperial eagle,
did the work on his vintage press, had French leather as base
and as well the necessary gold-foil.
As his son is an engineer in the oil-industry, one more old
trade to vanish from down-town Vienna.
The repro-label
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/53465
Original one from moth-eaten guncase
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/51003
..
Felix Neuberger

So sad to learn of his passing & state of our beloved pastime/infatuation.

Cheers,

Raimey
rse

for felix

The pair of Ribbentrop Springer's Nr. 10365/10366
I have been looking today a German TV session on the career of the
Nazi-grandee Ribbentrop, ambassador to London , secretary of state,
the first one to be hanged after the Nuremberg trials.
Its told that as ambassador to London he enjoyed his stay there and used Purdeys and Hollands as household items.
He had a hunting estate in Germany and is featuring in the
TV session with a gun in his hands.....
....
H. Riedl one of the 1980's/1990's "Tattendorf-gang" of
hunters/collectors passed away in 5/1997, failing to realize
his already ordered Africa-hunting-trip.
His heritage, a pair of 12-bore self-opener Springer's and
a pair of 16-bore Springer's.
The records of Springer's quote as customer for the 16-bores
"Ausw�rtiges Amt / Berlin".
The gossip with collectors has been this is the pair
of Ribbentrop Springer's.
I am curious on such statements as it is often just used
to pop-up the value of a merchandise. ("Fetichism-factor")
Given the info from this TV session this could have some
substance and be correct.
The 12-bores landed with an Austrian hunter with ad-business
background, the guns today with his widow and her
partner completed by a genuine Springer cartridge magazine
as present.
B. Lampl , retired manager of the previous Springer-antique
shop, told me that he had sold the pair of 16-bores
to Ukrain.
So what a paradoxon of history, a Vienna-best pair of guns,
once owned by a Nazi-grandee ,finally owned by a hunter/
collector in one of the invaded countries of WW II.
...
Felix Neuberger
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/53564
Photo courtesy Joh. Springer's Erben

Lovely effort there Felix. I always heavily fancy the tid-bits / pieces of info associated w/ the history of a sporting arm.

Cheers,

Raimey
rse

.. Genesis of a pair of Joseph Lang (built 1973) and associated lessons learned ..
A friend of mine who had a pair of Lang joined me on a duck shoot
in western Hungary in the late 1980's. He had the left peg to me
which turned out to be a very hot and difficult peg.
The ducks came down in a S-curve before splashing into the water.
He banged and banged and all of a sudden his banging ceased.
After the drive I asked him why he stopped shooting despite the
ducks still coming in. He told me that his Lang gun went out
of order. The hook holding the forepart was loose.
He was using a handguard - a piece of leather covered
steel-sheet - plus gloves. He did not realize that the
barrels became so hot that the soldering melted.
Lesson learned: No handguard and at best thin gloves -
from carpincho or roe-deer - to know when its too hot to continue
and/or change to another gun.
He had the loose hook fixed and moved upwards to the next London tier, buying a pair of Boss single trigger at Boss/London.
An Austrian cabinetmaker bought the pair for 20 KE.
The new owner, a fast and proficient shot, properly clad
in a hunting suit by an English tailor, but a man with
sometimes hair-trigger temper.
A harmless dispute of him with an artisan for a peanut-amount
escalated and he used a word/sentence not very well thought-out.
A non-involved retired policeman considered his sermo a
threat and filed a denunciation.
Police visited him and confiscated all his guns and rifles.
He ordered a lawyer to appeal and went up the levels up to
the European court. All in vain.
An expert from the police valued the confiscated stuff and
he got a refund of 15 KE for the Lang pair, his gun license
gone.
(So no WW II alike German/Russian/American confiscation).
Lesson learned: If you are a gunowner in a country
without a 2nd Amendment, your voice should be calm,
the language you choose kind and gentle, like the one
from a retired Alt-Philologe.
That has been 5 years ago and I have been wondering what has
happened to the Lang pair, as this is not a daily commodity
here.
The pair appeared now in a local auction, normally dealing
in the bottom tier of the market.
Start price 3,4 KE, hammer price 4 KE, with the vendors commission 3,2 KE for the vendor, i.e. police HQ.
So what started with 20, then down to 15 and now down to 3,2.
One may ask what happened to the significant deltas of this
downwards spiral..
Simple answer .. "Gone with the wind", like asset-based-securities of Lehmann-brothers or the Madoff-papers or
more recentyl here the Viennese Wienwert-papers.
Thus a pair London-Best reduced to a metallic brick-and-mortar,
sic transit gloria mundi...
The admin ordered him a 5-year calm-down period, after which he
could now once more apply for a gun/hunting license.
When asking him if he will do it, his answer has been NO, the
area he lives and hunted, once a haven for small game - even
hosting before WW II British crown prince Edward (later shortterm
king) - is void of game.
....
Felix Neuberger
(I did NOT buy the Lang pair)

A very interesting story! And: Lesson learned...! Thanks!

Wolfgang

...
Addendum to "lesson learned"..
The gun which preceeded the Lang pair of my late friend has been
a J. Nowotny/Prague. I found and bought it in the shop in Narodni Street in 1980. A 16/65 bore, sidelock ejector, a beauty of a
Prague-Best gun with gorgeous engraving and a blond/black
marbled stock, the nr. 3 of a trio.The shopmanager disclosed me
the vendor, I visited him in the country side. A young man who
told me that the gun is from his late father and he has no idea
on the whereabouts of the pairing 2 and 3.
When I moved to Paris in 1982 I put it on the market and it landed
at this my friend, the start of a life-long friendship, which
ended 3 years ago with his passing away.
He has been a novice-hunter and the Nowotny his first best-grade
one.
As a habit with many novice-hunters, he was keen to extend/
improve on the killing power/range of the gun.
He moved to/tried the 2 3/4 cartridge, with fatal effect.
The action withstood it but the choke bulged.
A gunsmith cut the bulged barrel-part and and the gun was sold.
Lesson learned: Do not extend/enlarge the chamber.
The destruction of this Nowotny barrel has confirmed me in
my ultra-orthodox position of an anti-elongation apostle,
in contrast to the prevailing mainstream to elongate to the
more cosily available 2 3/4 cartridge.
The allmighty Purdey used for their 2 3/4 chambered guns
a wider action than for the 2 1/2.
There has been more game bagged with the 2 1/2 ubiquitous
Eley-Grand-Prix type of cartridge than with anyting else -
at least in Europe.
What has been found out by pre-WW II generations of gun makers
to be the best implementation should not be ruined by
quasi-DIY modifications.
Even if the gun passes proof on the chamber extension and the
choke does not bulge, it will become loose and off the face
sooner or later.
Nick Holt has in his march auction a pair of leightweight
Purdey's of 2,83 kg and solid barrelmeasurements.
I have shot for a couple of years a 2,78 kg 27" Purdey
without undue recoil and with "perfect" killing/power.
Probably just perfect shot pattern/distribution.
These Purdey-folks knew how to build shotguns.
It would be complete nonsense to extend such guns to
2 3/4.
...
There is matter which is worse than extending chamber length
in a shotgun.
It is called converting a vintage rifle calibre to a more cosily
available current rifle calibre.
Once more its Nick Holt who has in his march auction a couple
of English double bore rifles of Indian provenance .
I believe the ancestors of the English gunmakers will rotate
in their graves when realizing that items of
Anglo/Indian world rifle cultural heritage have been
mutilated to Teutonic calibres of 7x65R or 9,3x74R.
Converted by Ferlach-gurus and prooved in London to create
the "Schim�re" of genuine London-work.
Why then at all ?
In the sermo of a London dealer "I can sell a 9,3x74R for
1 KGBP higher than with the original English vintage
calibre". In German just "Schn�der Mammon".
What is still missing in this undertaking is to fit
the still operational Maharaja-Rolls-Royce-Shooting-Brake
with BMW car-tyres.
I am aware that my orthodox attitude may be a
provocation to the dealer-folks, who make a living
on buying and selling vintage guns and rifles.
...
Felix Neubeger

Felix,

I was fortunate enough to come upon SN 2445 double rifle in 8x75R and I was wondering if peter made more than one label? It has a slightly different engraving pattern and would be happy to send photos.

Rick Hill

To Gankai/Rick Hill:
According Gundigest 8x75R has been introduced around 1910,
so this could be original barrel.
Re label:
I can offer you
1. Black/white copy of above repro label on thick paper
2. Colour copy of above repro label in red on thick paper.
If you send me your address via PM I will mail them to you.
Kind regards
Felix Neuberger

A J. Nowotny hammer gun, bar-in-wood, serial nr. 7922
...
If you think you know it all or you have seen it all
you are probably wrong.
An incidental inquiry re a Nowotny hammer gun to a family member of the house of J.Springer ended in my e-mail box. Their workshop
had restocked , refurbished and reproofed a "grandfathers
gun with broken stock" years ago.
The present gun-owner whose family has gone through this whole endeavour wanted to know if there is any info available on it.
I am reluctant to comment on wallhangers or other obsolete stuff , but in this case the combination of a vintage Nowotny
hammer gun with the owners profile -ex Internet - of an Merlot winemaker in the Carnuntum wineregion rose my interest.
Merlot is within Austria's ubiquitous Blaufr�nkisch/Zweigelt
a rather rare grape.
Carnuntum has been during Roman times the metropolis of their
Pannonia province and their bastion against the
marauding tribes from the north of the danube, the "terra
barbarica".
I visited the owner, a well established winemaker and
had all my Nowotny papers with me.
The first surprise it had Vienna (re)proof for 12/70
from march 1987 and what looked to me like an English preproof
but no original proof-year. And unbelievable T.Kilby barrel
from Sir J. Whitworth fluid pressed steel.
This may explain why it survived its Nitro proof.
As there is no previous local year-proof, it was apparently made
before the introduction of year-mark-proofs.
...
If you look on the Austrian reproof code it seems to be
NIY - coding is MYY - but as there is no letter I ("India")
for year thus this second letter must be T("Tango")
and not I
....
Its nr. 3 of a trio ( or more ), nice/flowing lines of the sculpting of the system and well executed engraving.
Missing the original stock with ev. crest or other indication,
I wanted to clarify if there is a chance to find out
provenance and production year.
There are J. Nowotny descendants, but they do not have any
customer/order records.
Then there remain 2 options.
1. Intrapolating the Kilby barrel serial number back from 2
known from later times results in year 1892. This is a rather vague exercise given the short interval (1913,1929) of the known Kilby dates.
2.Intrapolating the Nowotny serial nr. from 2 known from
later times results in year of production 1887.
The second intrapolation is the one into which I
have more confidence given its interval 1899/1928.
.....
Here are a couple of photos to show this very early example of
a Kilby/Whitworth/Nowotny coproduction in pre-pre-pre-brexit
times.
My judgement its an English made hammer gun in the
white - given its Kilby/Whitworth barrels, the
English preproof, the English name for Prague on
the barrel-rib - and engraved/stocked and
finished in Prague given the Czech name "v Praze" on the
bar of the action.
..
Just in case you happen to have the nr. 1 or 2 of this trio
(or nr. 4 etc if more) dont hesitate to show up it would
be worthwile to try these guns in Zidlochovice or in one
of the other Czech high volume pheasants shoots.
That is it where these guns made their first appearance.
Weidmannsheil and Lovu Zdar
Felix Neuberger
...
Gunphotos
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/54398
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/54399
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/54400
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/54401
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/54402
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/54403
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/54404
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/54405
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/54406
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/54407
Photos ex J. Nowotny catalogue 1912
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/54408
This is the model in the 1912 catalogue which comes
nearest to the gun featuring above.
the headline translates to "Prague manual work",
the last line has the Kilby-barrel option.
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/54409
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/54410
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/54412

Kalezky update
...WIP...
I have located the Kalezky family grave.
The fresh flowers by a profi-gardener and the status of
"Unlimited usage" tell me there are
descendants.
I do not/can not promise anything, but
hope to come up at least with some
Kalezky-family-saga-photos.
...
Photos of the tombstone
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/54611
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/54612
...
Felix Neuberger

Sound lovely. Remain ever stalwart.....


Many, many thanks for your continued efforts.

Cheers,

Raimey
rse

Ruhest�tte der Familie Kalezky

Final Resting Place of the Kalezky Family

Cheers,

Raimey
rse

Here is an update on this Kalezky-grave/history saga.
I sent a long letter with copies of my DGJ/Internet articles to
an address in the Austrian province and
got an answer by an old lady.
In short:
She is NOT a Kalezky descendant, NOR related to/with this
Kalezky married couple, thus NOT the "missing link".
Hans Kalezky passed away issueless during WW II ,
his wife survived him for many years and passed away
aged 90 sometime in the 1960'S(+).
The addressed lady is the last time-witness of the
Kalezky-widow.
There is no free lunch in this country, nor a grave
free-of-charge , nor grave-flowers free-of-charge.
I invite you to guess then why someone is paying for
a grave of a non-related person.
I voiced my desire to visit her with my camera.
I thought I could embellish/garnish my dry Kalezky-gun-
stories with some colourful Viennese-K&K-Hautevolee-Kalezky-Objects-Folklore.
This my desire has been denied and any further
correspondence/contact cut.
No customer records, no archive, no photos, no Folklore.
..
Causa Kalezky finita est
..
Felix Neuberger
..

Mny thanks, Felix!

Very interesting - keep on digging!

Cheers,
Wolfgang

Kalezky story ...ongoing
We know now that there were no descendants nor relatives.
And I wish a long life to the old lady who pays for the
grave services. But it could well be that the
grave-photos which Raimey thankfully uploaded here
from my jpgbox in some future could be the
very, very last pictorial document on this Kalezky
family saga.
So the open end of this story has finally a necrological
closing.
...
The problem is that with the info now at hand it turns
out that the Kalezky saga has an open beginning.
The Kalezky catalogue cover has the wording
"Gegr�ndet 1845" ( means founded).
The cemetery records quote Johann Kalezky ("the elder")
to be buried there 1889 aged 62.
That would mean he has founded his company at the early age
of 18, which I simply can not take for granted.
The options at hand are that
- he took over a company founded by some else in
1845 in Vienna ( or Weipert?) or
- an elder Kalezky ancestor founded it 1845, but where ?
For comparison the Viennese company of Johann Springer's
Erben was founded 1836 by Matthias Nowottny in
Vienna and taken over by Springer later.
..
In my DGJ Kalezky article I already speculated on the
origin of the Kalezky's.
There is a town in north-western Czechia with the name of
Kalek. In my opinion the name is a clean derivation of this
town-name.
The town lies in the district of Chomutov, the former gunmaking
centre Weipert is in the same district.
This coincidence opens a spectrum of possibilities on the
origin of the company, the founder, did he learn the trade in
Weipert and moved later to the metrople of Vienna ..etc..etc
I do not intend to spend any time to dig into Viennese
archives of +-1827, nor do any research in Czechia.
But may be some knowledgeable historian/guru from the
"Weiperter Landsmannschaft" in Germany could unearth
some info on this open beginning of this Kalezky saga.
..
Felix Neuberger
..
Photo of Kalezky catalogue cover
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/55212

Lovely effort & image there Mr. Neuberger. Hopefully this info will provide additional avenues to research / search.


Cheers,

Raimey
rse

..The oldest Springer case label ....
A dealer in antique household-items had on offer
a Springer-double-guncase with the typical
side-opening-flaps AND to my surprise
the oldest Springer label I ever came across.
He told me he has found it at a provincial
flea-market.
I brought it to the attention of the house
of Springer and it will move to their museum.
My guess it dates from ca 1860,
no "Erben"-script yes, no imperial
appointment, nor any sign of the medals won.
So here it is:
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/55748
In remarkable good condition, with a
small leather compartment for the cleaning rod
and something similar for a turnscrew(?).
Probably empty for a century or more in an attic
or forgotten cupboard
......
..Felix Neubeger
......
The Musee de la Chasse et de la Nature in Paris
has a deluxe Lefaucheux type of shotgun with this double
Springer/Nowotny signature.It belonged to
Henri d'Artois,count of Chambord, who settled into
Frohsdorf castle near Vienna in 1844.
The dates given are for Johann Springer 1819-1875 and
for Matthias Nowotny 1825-1856.
As per finding of a Prague-museum-Kustos this
Viennese Nowotny has been the uncle of the
Prague gunmaker Jan Nowotny.

New book:
"Die Geschichte der Ferlacher B�chsenmacher von 1885 bis heute".
By Renate Jerney, Isbn 978-3-7084-0612-1.
This translates to "History of the Ferlach gunmakers from
1885 till today".
This is a great book, since long overdue, very well researched,
a comprehensive work of reference on this subject.
I bought it at Peter Hambrusch/ Ferlach /www.ferlachguns.com/.
....
Felix Neuberger

Fdelix, indeed a very good book, I bought it a while ago here:https://shop.usbooks.de/index.php/jagdwaffen-grosswildbuechsen-c-33
Cheers, Marc.

F.Faukner and J. Nowotny - closing the open ends
....
I admit it has been the Nick Holt shop reentering a previously
unsold F. Faukner boxlock - 16-bore with Defourny self-opener -
at now 500 GBP into the next auction, which has triggered this
post.
To be clear, I have no association nor any interest in his nor
any auction-house business nor any gunmaking business/shop.
...
An English gundealer told me in a recent telcon that the Brits
dont buy English guns nowadays and less so an unknown Czech
boxlock with cracked stock.The present pattern/behaveour is
that the wealthy oldie shoots with a pair of Hollands and
drives a VW/Golf and the wealthy son shoots with a pair
of 2K Berettas and drives a 80K Range Rover.
...
F. Faukner / The Czech "Purdey"
DGJ spring 2009 had my article on this Czech gunmaker.
According my observation there should be descendants as the
grave has been well cared for. A disclosure of the
name/address of the person paying for the grave has been
denied by the cemetary administration at the time of my
field research.
I have invited/asked now a journalist/writer from Prague
- with learned profession of a historian - to try to
close on the open ends of this Faukner historia
and to include his findings under his name in a separate
post within this thread.
.....
Here are some photos re Faukner I have taken over time
...
Late Jaroslav Smid, stocker and scope fitter at Faukner before
WW II and still active in the Czech countryside when
I met him in 1995.
According this J. Smid the shopowner Jan Faukner -
son of F. Faukner - has been a proud man, wearing a
"buzinka"/bowler hat, and residing in his shop in
fashionable downtown Prague.
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/57626
....
The tools of the stocker
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/57627
....
Faukner has been agent for Steyr/Austria, the front page
of his catalogue
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/57630
...

Faukner tombstone in Olsany cemetary in Prague
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/57628
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/57629
.....
J. Nowotny - the Czech "Holland"
DGJ winter 1995 had my article on this Czech gunmaker
with the info-status known at this time.
I met at one of my hunting trips a Czech hunter -with
pointer dogs -who collected catalogues.
I could copy his Nowotny catalogue.
The front page has a vignette/photo of Jan Nowotny
with the wording
quote
JAN NOWOTNY
zalozil zavod v roce 186x
*1839 + 1893
unquote
It means he founded his company 186x, the x could be
3 or 5.
The journalist I have mentioned before has told me
after he had written an article in a Czech paper on this
J.Nowotny suddenly descendants showed up at his office.
I have asked him to follow up on this and possibly
come up with some insteresting stories on this bygone
Czech world.
And to include it under his name herein.
...
J. Nowotny catalogue front page with the Nowotny photo
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/57631
....
History book on Czech gunmakers
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/57632
....
Nowotny guncase label is included in the first post
of this thread.
...
This Prague Jan Nowotny has been the nephew of the
Viennese Matthias Nowotny. The sister of this Matthias
married Johann Springer, the ancestor of this still
existing Viennese company.
Johann Springer had moved to Vienna from a town in
todays Slovakia. So the Viennese Springers have -
despite their German/Bajuvarian name - Slovak/Bohemian
ancestry.
To show that the Nowotny history could be more
complicated , there is a book by Vladimir Dolinek
"Cesti puskari" - ISBN 80-206-0758-7, naming a total
of 12 Nowotnys working in the guntrade ( The book
covers the time up to 1900).
The son of this late catalogue collector, by learned
profession a gunsmith, but due to missing gunsmith jobs
is working in the metal processing industry. He told me
that he has a collegue reputedly a Nowotny descendant.
Given the rather common name of Nowotny this info
should be taken with some sense of caveat.
...
Felix Neuberger
(emptying archive/knowledge base)

....A spring-time photo ...
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/59635
Its a "Kornellkirsche" (lat. cornus mas), vulgo "Dirndl"
(i.e. "Girlie").
Usually a shrub, the first spring-messenger
with the small yellow blossoms already end
february/beginning march.
There is a valley in Lower Austria with lot of these.
..
Thought to include here to contribute to cheer up in
this pandemic quarantine standstill.
...
A very slowly growing shrub yielding local wood
with the highest tensile specs .
Its not off-topic to this forum. Why ?
Retired stocker Altmeister Hans Jiricek
- turning 90 this september -
has used THIS wood to repair stocks broken in the
hand portion.
With a "tongue-groove" method common with cabinet
makers.
..FN..

Many thanks Mr. Neuberger. Does Hans Jiricek speak English? Currently in Austria, can you travel outside your domicile without a mask?

Cheers,

Raimey
rse

For Felix

To Raimey:
- Hans Jiricek does not speak English.
He has to use a rollator and has really laid down his tools.
By the way, he is one of the last witnesses of
the Nazi terror in Vienna.
He is of Czech descendance,
his name means little Georg.
......
- I assume you know that Nick Holt has left London
and moved towards the Hadrian Wall.
May be some of his present offerings
are of interest for you:
. Pair of newish split HH Royal SO at 8+7 GBP.
The swept combs of the stocks would be a
chose negligeable for folks like Jiricek.
. Pair of Spanish Woodward-alike OU at 2,5 KGBP.
. An Anton Sodia OU SLE at 1,5 KGBP.
He was a fine Ferlach craftman, but his son died
in an accident so no succession.
The Brexit clown from Downing street 10 has told that
oldies like me (82) have to stay at home for the next
3 months. This is already his "Anti-Pandemic
Strategy 2.0 " as his first version was called
"Herden-Immunit�t" assuming the not-so-healthy oldies would
pass away sooner than later.
As I never buy a gun without seeing/measuring and
I can not travel to the Hadrian Wall at present
nothing for me.
.....
- Ferdinand Ritter von Mannlicher
Years ago - long before Google/Wikipedia times -
I attended the burial of a hunting-buddy of mine
and have seen there the tombstone of Mannlicher.
Every time I return now from the weekly shopping
to the nearest supermarket I pass by Mannlicher-Gasse.
(Entry to the street prohibited to non-residents).
I looked into Google now.
Result: Tombstone is still there AND
the MANSION of Ferdinand Ritter von Mannlicher
is for sale on the market.
Now Raimey, if you got rid of your shares before
the pandemic black mondays/fridays and/or if you
ammassed 50 kg of aurum 999,9 there is
a unique chance to acquire a top-piece of Austrian
real-estate from a great provenance.
Has an open view to the fortress "des F�rsten
von und zu Liechtenstein", located in a Bio-Sph�ren-Park.
The brokerage fee is on the price level of a Range Rover.
The prices for the sleek thoroughbred elegantly-shaped
Mannlicher carbines with its smooth click-clack are
nowadays next to nothing.
Once the broker realizes that you are a hunter
he may consider to provide to you as a matter
of courtesy such a carbine as a "Draufgabe" (give-away).
....
I could extend here - but it would be OT -
as L. Beethoven got the inspiration for his
13 M�dlinger/Br�hler T�nze when walking in this
area.
...
Good luck
F.N.

.....
CONTINENTAL VINTAGE GUNS, GUNCASES, ACCESSORIES, GAMEBAG
.....
Liege has been an epicentre of Continental gunmaking,
with up to now fragmentary documentation.
I consider it worthwile to pay tribute to this
trade as guns continue to be in use/at hand/emerging
after 60 to 80 to 100 years,all in perfect
working condition. Proofing the high level
of workmanship/skills existing there.
Here are 5 examples of Liege guns,
2 of them with "Liege inside" and
"Liege outside", 3 of them with "Liege inside" and
names of Central European gunmakers on the outside.
A. Guns
A1. Fs.Dumoulin & Co
Here is a little/sweetie lady-birdgun,
sidelock ejector, 16/65, chokes 1/4 and 3/4,
round system, engraving by Leonard Smeets,
according littlegun.be "Graveur Incrusteux sur Armes
de Sa Majeste le Roi",
valid Belgian proof from 1942,
short stock,
sling swivels, provenance late Baroness H.M.K.R,
her first prename and family name initials together with
the 7-pointed crown in gold on the triggerguard.
It seems the Baroness carried the gun always over the
left shoulder as the blueing on the left barrel is
gone, never reblued or otherwise molested by a
gunsmith.
..Photo sideplate..
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/60739
..Photo triggerguard..
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/60740
...
A2. A. Forgeron
Another lady-gun, once more a little sweetie
16/65, this time a hare-gun, chokes 3/4 and 3/4,
valid Belgian proof from 1928,
with unsurpassable Louis XVI engraving,
in crisp condition, original short stock
extended with a nice walnut-piece ,
pairing gun probably Russian WW II booty
..Photo sideplate..
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/60741
..Photo stock..
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/60742
A3. Piffl/Baden
..The first of the guns with "Liege inside" and
this time "Piffl/Baden" on the outside.
Viennese proof of 1963, fashioned by ex Springer
workshop-manager Piffl, engraved by ex Springer
engraver H. Winkler, stocked by ex Springer
stocker Hans Jiricek.
This gun has been featuring in my article here
"Joh.Springers Erben last gun"..
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/50374
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/50372
A4. F. Faukner/Praha
..The Faukner pair has been featuring in my
DGJ article spring 2009.
I have found it 1978 in the no longer existing
gunshop in Narodni street in Prague.
I did hold a gun to the light to check if it is
tight . The shop manager Pan Niclas smiled at me, left
the room and returned few moments later with
the tan-coloured guncase shown later here.
It contained a F. Faukner pair.
I am normally very sceptical to see 60 year old guns with
all the colouring, as it normally implies
recouloring.
But this was 1978, in deepest commie country, no
professional recolouring fraterniy there.
I needed some time to convince myself that this is
genuine and not redone for sale.
Another pair of "Liege inside" guns with this fine Louis XVI
engraving and the Czech retailer name on plate and action.
No way that this Prague boutique gunmaker could have
made those, I guess ex Defourny.
Belgian proof before 1922.
After now nearly 100 years with
all the original colour, rather an objet-de-vitrine.
("Zu schade um damit zu jagen")
....
photo Faukner pair/photo taken ex my DGJ article
(original DGJ photo by my late friend Dr.HW with
his Sinar camera.)
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/60756
..
A5. Springer O/U 12 bore
Johann Springer's Erben (JSE) had in their last
auction a rare JSE Over/Under dating from 1939.
...
I browsed through my Belgian gun catalogues
looking for similar-style products.
There have been Over/under guns by the Belgian
gunmakers Forgeron, Thonon, Lebeau-Courally,
Duchateau,Manufacture-Liegeoise.
I have full doubt, that this JSE O/U is not even
a one-off exercise of a JSE homemade gun,
because it has all the
typical elements of these Belgian O/U's.
The engraving is JSE like, the banderole is JSE like.
chokes both full.
In my opinion "Liege inside" and completed/finished
in Vienna.
A typical JSE hare gun.
Retired JSE gunsmith W. Niessner, who started his
apprenticeship at JSE in 1962, has been told by his
patron Johann Springer - the grandfather of the
present JSE owner -that a Springer gun has never
been considered a leightweight gun.
Not below 3,15 kg,
it was taken as THE tool for the great hare shoots
of Central and Eastern Europe.
Photo O/U sideplate /JSE courtesy
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/60766

B. Guncases
B1. F. Faukner double guncase
This is a peculiar style of compact
vintage guncase seen in
Central Europe. Opening with flaps at
both ends. Inside with a full implement
of accessories.
It turned out that a leather patch has been
fixed above the initials "WG" of the original owner
("Dem tut keine Zehe mehr weh")
...Photo Faukner guncase/
Shown here with the protective textile/slips
to avoid touching of metalparts with the leather of
of the case.
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/60743
B2. Photo yellow-brown coloured Forgeron guncase
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/60759
B3. Neuber/Springer/Faukner stiff long guncase
Another peculiarity of Central Europe are these
stiff long guncases.
Here are 3 of them.
The left one is by Neuber of Wr. Neustadt.
His shop ceased in the bombing raids onto this
town during WW II. This guncase has no sign of use.
Dates from before WW II, probably taking a
unscoped Mannlicher of Mauser.
Possibly the owner did not return from war,
rifled weapons were prohibited in the Russian
zone of Eastern Austria up top 1955, thus lying
around unused for decades.
I could not clarify the use of the 2 loops on this case.
The middle one is by Springer/Vienna, the right one
by Faukner/Prague.
I consider this type of long stiff case the optimum
protection for shotgun barrels, when moving
in a crowd on a tractor trailer from one drive to
another. Or if you move in a Russian vintage jeep
on slippery Puszta ground to another drive and the
Hungarian driver wants to show you that he has rally-
background.
...Photo guncases
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/60734
...Photo with Neuber stamp on lid
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/60735
...Photo Springer stamp on lid
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/60736
...Photo Faukner stamp on strap/hardly readable
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/60737
C. Accessories

.. All ex F.Faukner guncase
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/60758
An oilbottle plus a small oiler with cover all
packed in 2 separate small wooden cases
.. 3-piece cleaning rod with linked elements
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/60754
...
D. Gamebag
The word of "gamebag" does unjustice to this item,
as it is rather a multipurpose bag.
Contains on the inside of the first leather/compartment
2 cartridge belt sections for a total of 12 cartridges,
a small compartment to hold a hunting license,
a second two-part textile compartment,
a third textile compartment and a fourth one
in elaborate crochet-work for an occasional rabbit
or pigeon for the pot.
Its a French vintage piece, the wonderful soft
carpincho gloves on the flap are of recent
Argentine origin.
..photo gamebag
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/60755

Guncase restoration & Gun-Botoxing
...
If your vintage oak & leather guncase is worn and you have no
case-maker at hand - a trade long long ago vanished in Vienna -
but possibly someone from your buddy-entourage is a
DIY-freak, here is a short how-to-do summary.

A. Guncase restoration
1. Relining a case (replacing the cloth inside)
Animal hide/pearl glue has been the one in use with old
guncases.Softly soaking the cloth in the case body and the
cover will allow to loosen it.
The same with the removed compartment boards.
Fill any cracks or imperfections with a woodfiller.
( 2-component Alsibois).
Re replacement cloth:
Velvet - as pretty it may be - is not recemmendable as
according to 2 gunsmiths it will absorb moisture and sooner
or later corrode action/barrels.
Felt is too thick.
Cloth of choice is Loden-cloth, 0,5 mm thick, sheep-wool
based, the one used for the once ubiquitous Loden-coats.
Colours availabe are red,green,blue.
Glue of choice is the cabinet-makers white glue, either
standard or express.
Let it all dry case-open for 2 days.

2. Recovering (Renew/replace outside leather)

Separate the case-body from the cover (hinges).
Remove the leather by soaking - if necessary - it
softly.
Fill any imperfections (splits) of body/cover with
a woodfiller.
Carcase and cover are usually joined by dovetails.
In case the dovetails elements are loose you can tighten
those with small pieces of veneer inserted/glued with
gap filling polyurethane glue.
Leather of choice is 0,5 mm thick.
Cabinet makers glue would be a nuisance to use as you
need to apply pressforms due its long drying-time.
There is available a high-tech glue
"Henkel Pattex Kraftkleber GEL Compact" applied with a
tooth-spatula, open drying time 10+ min, then putting/
pressing together few seconds WITHOUT a pressform.
Recovering the lid/cover:
a. Glue a stripe with the leather-face-side onto the rim
of the case on front and the two sides.
The width is about 2x (10-12) mm above the wooden-side
of the cover.
b. Glue a stripe of 2 mm thick leather onto this first
stripe (a), the width about to be the final width of the
lid, i.e. (10-12 mm) less than a.
Nail this down to the wood with small broad-headed nails
to give it all stability.
c. Glue the leather on the top of the cover with surplus
leather in front,the 2 sides and the back.
d.Bend the surplus leather and glue it flush with the
leather item b on front and the 2 sides.
e. Bend leather item a around b and d and glue it
down on front and the 2 sides
f. Fit the hinges and glue the surplus leather onto
back side.
..
Just in case your gun-case if of noble Indian/Oriental
provenance (Raja,Maharaja, Nawab) and only few croc hide
remnants on it.
Now, the cow is a holy animal in India, not so a croc,
contrary the croc is a holy animal in Europe, not so
a cow.
There are croc-hides on the market.
These are not hides of the monstrous beasts from this
African river , lurking and feeding on migrating gnus.
These are from reared crocs in Latin America, tanned
and coloured in Bella Italia.
All with the obligatory seal of a globe/animal saving NGO.

B. Gun-Botoxing

It is my understanding that guns to go into auction are
given to a gunsmith to embellish/refurbish it for a small
amount of a lumpsum.
This includes reblacking forend iron, trigger-guard,
toplever AND barrels, requeckering wrist and refresh stock.
There is nothing wrong/unethical with it.
I personally call it gun-botoxing.
....
Christies/London sold in march 1984 a Purdey for
4,8 KGBP, provenance late Dr. Zezi, barrel measurements
733 734 29 29,5 .
This gun is now in the next Holt auction with the original
provenance king Farouk of Egypt.
(This is the chap who once said that there will remain
only 5 kings worldwide, the 4 in the cardplay , the
fivth the English king).
The barrel measurements are now 735- 735+ 26 26 .
All together still solid measurements, but a good example
of the effect of gun-embellishment/refurbishing/botoxing.
The barrel enlargement contributes with one thou to
the thinning of the barrels, the further 2 thous from
the blackening of the barrels.
My concern with this botoxing:
- for optical/done-up-for-sale reasons
the barrel wall thickness - the essential tech parameter -
is reduced/thinned.
Similar the thinning of the wrist.
. the grandezza/charm of a well used vintage gun is gone
.....
I have seen more than one gun polished/blacked to death
in the zone where the rib meets the barrel surpace.
......
If you decided for the croc recovering option of your
empty guncase, you do not need to be an Egyptian expat
to complement your case with this noble Egyptian gun.
...
FN

..Another long stiff vintage case...
These continue to emerge occasionally. This time a rifle case
with 99 cm overall length.It dates from before WW 1.
Label stamp of "Joh. Springer's Erben" with their imperial
appointment on the inside of the cover.
Due to solid saddler work survived the test of
decades/century.
Given the length of 99 cmm, the only item to fit in there
an unscoped Mannlicher Sch�nauer carbine.
45 cm barrel length, fully stocked, steel cap at the stock, the
mark from it showing on the label.
An all-steel/walnut product, no plastic, no alu, no leather...
These vintage Mannlicher in 6,5x54 MS continue to appear.
There seem to be afficionados/collectors for these rifles.
Handling these elegant, sleek thouroughbreds, with the
smooth click/clack, balancing like a lightweight English
birdgun, its understandable why these vintage rifles
beauties never remain unsold.
Even a scope fitted with a small dovetail into the
action-body, which renders it unsuitable for Austrian
reproof, does not any harm.
Mannlicher and case from the same vendor.
A late collegue of mine had what he considered the
greatest Mannlicher collection on earth.He had
to change his mind once seeing an US collection.
Case photo
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/62045
Label photo
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/62044
Photo of stylish small lock
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/62052
...
A heretical postscriptum to this short rifle case:
A skilled saddler should be able to extend it with
a stepped cuff/sleeve to make it usable for a shotgun.
..
Same Springer label on a vintage cartridge magazine
before WW 1.
An all-leather product.
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/62046
...
Photo of the "Ferdinand Ritter von Mannlicher"- mansion,
taken from the adjoining Bio-Spaehren-Park.
It was/is on the market.
I am wondering if a Russian biz-man emptied/will empty
his petty-cash or reduced/will reduce a little bit his
gold ingot/coin collection.
Photo mansion
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/62051
....
OT:
In a previous post I included a photo of a wild-fruit
Kornell-cherry in blossom, the first spring-time
messenger, at the outset of the first lockdown in this
country.
Here is a photo of the autumn-time fruits.
And the shrub is full of buds for the next
spring-blossom-season.
Photo fruits
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/62047
..
All my planned birdshoots to the neighbouring contries
cancelled or illegal to attend.
Not system relevant activity.
The third lockdown has started yesterday and the
first vaccins have arrived.
An annus horribilis is coming to an end.
...
Once upon a time a wine-maker used to have one harvest
in the vineyard, one in the cellar and one on the
bank-account. Once upon a time....
Today, with the shutdown of the restaurants/inns, this
distribution channel for the wine-maker fraternity
has collapsed.
So topgrade red Austro-cuvees are being discounted
to reduce stock.
Lets wait and see if this "Little-Chinese-bat-flu"
will realize something similar to vintage Purdeys.
...
Stay healthy and get ASAP a vaccination..
..
FN

Great to see another post on nostalgic items from the >>Golden Era<<.

How are the COVID-19 impacts in your region?


Serbus,

Raimey
rse

Any idea the name of the mechanic that made the cases?

Serbus,


Raimey
rse

.. Eine "Wippen"-Purdey ..
The German magazine DWJ had in the eary 1970's
several articles on English gunmakers and one on English gunlocks.
The gunlock-article showed a drawing of a Purdey lock different to the
typical arrangement of the internals.
Usually the interlocking safety sear blocks the tumbler.
(In German: Fangstangen-Purdey)
With the shown lock the interlocking element has been a
seesaw-part-alike (in German: Wippe/Balancier) blocking the
sear but NOT the tumbler.
For decades I have never seen such a lock until it emerged
recently. A German gunmaker told me he has on at hand
and has kindly provided me a photo.
So here is a photo of the internals of a "Wippen"-Purdey-lock.
I understand that Purdey used this type of lock in the
1960's/1970's but finally abandoned it.
..
FN
..
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/62124

..Poldi anticorro steel...
There has been a recent thread on Krupp barrels.
Raimey/Ellenbrs had an elaborate thread years ago on the Czech Poldi steelworks.
I understand that they went broke recently and were auctioned off twice.
So here are 2 photos of a pair of bars for Poldi anticorro chopperlump barrels
in statu nascendi.
I got them decades ago from a Prague gundealer.
In the old Austrian steel group classification (STL1 to STL7)
it featured in STL 2.
Böhler Rasant/42CrMo4 has been in STL 3, Böhler Super Blitz in STL 7.
This steelgroups defined the minimum allowable thicknesses, an
critical parameter when extending shotgun chamber length from 65 to 70.
..
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/62374
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/62375
....
F.N.
As it is not uncommon that posts on this forum deviate in a nonsense
political dispute/insult, so dont be misled by the rule , it has been a
giveaway into my mailbox at the last election.

ANTICORRO - AK-1

Great pics & info, in the state of being born......

Serbus,

Raimey
rse

>>Wippen<< Purdey Lock


Serbus,

Raimey
rse

Have you an image of the outside in order that we may view the pin configuration?


Serbus,

Raimey
rse

...its OT, but man oh man what means OT...
To cheer up I included one year ago a photo of my Kornell-cherry-shrub in blossom as spring time
messenger in a preceeding post.
This has been at the outset of the first lockdown in this country.
We are one year later and the P.R.C.'s subtle bio warfare is still with us ,
worse than before and got us into a third lockdown.
The buds of my Kornell-cherry-shrub are starting to open-
for the spring 2021 blossom.
.....
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/62842
.....
There is one more Alma Mater Germanica, named UvdL, alias Mrs EU.
She proudly proclaimed "Wir BESCHAFFEN das", i.e. EU centralized
vaccin procurement.
Reality Germanic non-show:
. 2% vaccination rate in this country versus
- 40+% in Israel
- 20% in the country of the bedevilled Brexit-cowboy.
The Eu is suffering on an overdose of complacent megalomanic
Germanism.
It is lacking the Jewish virtues of
- integritas
- concordia
- industria
..
Amen
F. N.
..
PS 1:
A 83-years-oldie angrily waiting for a vaccination date for him and his wife.
Realizing that the vice governer of Lower Austria, a reddie appararatschik,
got it "sozial gerecht" already in january.
Balcania rules.
PS 2:
Whats positive ....
A new vinous millenium has arrived in southern Hungary after the commie collapse of 1989.
A "Bordeaux de l'est" alias Villany has emerged with 20-30 years old startups,
unknown in the west, cultivating the Bordeaux varietals of Merlot and Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon.
With a prominent testimonial by the English wine-pope M. Broadbent.
So not only wild geese and ducks and pheasants and partridges, but also Grand Cru Rouge ...in Magyarorszag
... I disclose you a Magyar secret
2012 has been the hottest year in the last 30 years in Villany , 2012 an incredible wine vintage, and now mature wines,...
To be clear I have no interrest/share in any of startups, its just to be fair to these wine-newcomers/startups
of my beloved bird hunting country
....
Cheers and Prost
..
PS 3:
Neither a delayed carneval joke nor fake news - source ex German TV
Our PM contacted Wladimir Wladimirowitsch P. to figure out the possibility to produce the Russian
Vaccin 2.0 in Austria .
"Go East man go East "
Xoposcho and Halleluja
....

Its necroloy times
....
K.Polly
His telephone nr has been void. When checking I found out he had passed away recently.
Have hunted with him in Styria on ducks and met him occasionally in the nearby shooting club.
With his metal-processing background its no wonder that he had a special liking for the
Mannlicher and also for a Holland block-rifle. As a curiosum he sometimes
appeared at the club with a WW II-amphibious-car ( Schwimmwagen).
Without kids one more Mannlicher collection will be dispersed.
RIP
C. Penzes
Profi gunsmith with a shop in a district town of eastern Austria.
He had trained the youngsters in shotgunning at the nearby club.
Surprising death message and too much for one and the same day.
His shop is now gone, preceeded to it a gunshop closed in the
neighbouring disctrict.
From a family of technicians as his grandoncle did repair
churchtower-clocks.
RIP
....
Its winetasting times
....
Update to previous post re Bordeaux de l'est.
I have tasted me through samples from 5 of these Villany estates.
Vintage wise backwards up to 2007, in corona times simply via
mail order.
Some facts:
Red wine acreage about 2000 ha, this is a small area compared
to other wine growing regions.
Wineries family owned small estates. one exception owned
by a banker, a type of Hungaro -Mondavi.
Run by profi-gunmakers, no weekend-hobby-winemakers.
All of these established in the privatisation wave after 1989.
No discounting, no fast-buck/fast-turnaround business-model.
The 2007 and 2012 are really great mature vintages in the price-range
45-85 E per bottle.
How does a French-Bordeaux-Westbank/Medoc 800 E bottle compare with
such a Vinum-Ambrosianum-Villanicum:
The difference are 500 years of history and the english royals since more
than 120 years as testimonials.
The world-class Californian reds are not available here (Caymus,Dunn,GdL),
it seems US drinks these themselves.
Before you knit your brows on such prices here is a statement by
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe:
"Life is too short to drink mediocre wine"
...
Cheers and Prost
F.N.

Here is an info for a hunter/collector/freak re Mannlicher & Co.
....
I mentioned in a previous post that the Mannlicher collection of the late K. Polly
will be dispersed.
It is already on the market.
JSE had in their last june online auction a group of lots originating from
this source.
As usual with the auctioneer folks at intriguing low start prices
to motivate people to join into the game.
Resulting in a bidding frenzy, all lots sold.
The surprise with this collection is its rather elusive big size and
diversity.
The next auction in july has more of these to come.
As per JSE auctioneer dictum: "Der Markt vertraegt nicht soviel
Mannlicher auf einmal".
Contains also a rather rare custom bolt action rifle with
Mausermagnum action/300 Weatherby/deluxe stock.
Originating from the estate of the late count Ch. Trautmannsdorf.
---
This is the man who told me the story of his ancestor who found a
solution to the problem he has been confronted by his shoot guests.
They had the habit to appear at his shoot with no or low
cartridge supply and started to borrow cartridges from the host.
To cope with this annoying manner he ordered a set of six
Springer guns in cal 14.
So when the next borrowing game started he simply
asked if cal 14 is convenient/suitable.
I have been curious is this a repeatedly told "Jaegerlatein"-story
- or in new US-speak - oldie hunter-fake-news.
Here are the facts from the Springer-records:
On 26.8.1876 Carl Fuerst Trautmannsdorf ordered a set of
six "Lancaster C 14" numbered 5702/3/4/5/6/7.
Quod erat demonstrandum.
Lancaster is the codeword for hammergun.
-----
F.N.
----
JSE archive courtesy /
www.jpgbox.com/page/63816

Felix:

Many thanks for the info as well as the proof effort of your postulate.


Serbus,

Raimey
rse

A collage .... mostly on-topic objects
......
A. Austriana
1. San Francisco auction house Butterfield & Butterfield had in their nov. 8 1993 auction
lot 2451
Mannlicher nr. 724 in 30-06, Zeiss 8x scope, Faukner script on scope
estimate 700-900 $
hammer 800 $
Vienna auction house JSE had this Mannlicher in their june 2021 auction
start price 150 E
hammer price 750 E
2. Same US auction
lot 2453
Mannlicher carbine nr. 41295 in 243 W, Kahles Helia 27 scope, orig mount
estimate 500 - 800 $
hammer 1200 $
How did it shoot then: hole-in-hole
As of today july 20 and contrary to previous info this Mannlicher nr.41295
will not be in one of the next JSE auctions, it is not at hand.
****
A profi-gunsmith has told me that Kahles has withdrawn its repair/service
offering for the Helia 27.
*****

3. Mansion of weapon-designer Ferdinand Ritter von Mannlicher in Mannlicher-Gasse/
Hinterbruehl/"Bacon-belt"south to Vienna has been on the market and finally sold.
Who has today such deep pockets?
Best guess:
Either a Russian bizman or a Profi-football-player or a Profi-skier.
How come last one?
In Austria's-West monochromatic economy, where every mole-hill has a ski-lift, testimonials
are needed.
These are provided by the down-hill Charlies, who get proper remuneration for their
risky jobs.
......
Weidmannsheil and Skiheil

B. Anglicana
Same US auction lot 2557
A James Woodward & Sons nr. 6740, over/under, 20 bore, sidelock ejector, ca 1924
Bores:
Diameter 619,5 619
Min Wall thicknesses Under 21 thou Over 17 thou
Estimate 5 to 8 K$
Hammer 28 K$
....
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/63836
.....
"God save the queen"

C. Americana
Same US auction lot 2559
Parker Bros nr 180178, A1 special, in 410 plus second barrelset in 28,
side-by-side, boxlock ejector
Estimate 50 to 80 K$
Hammer 150 K$
....
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/63837
....
"God bless America"
...
D.Austriana- continued and slightly off-topic
Beatification/Entry-into-Hall-of-winemakers-fame for E. Triebaumer
in the small town of Rust at Neusiedler See.
Since long overdue, he got 100 Parker points for his 2014
Ruster Ausbruch, a TBA alike sweet wine.
(The second 100 Parker in this country).
A gentleman in his habit, in all his doing the antithesis to the
uncanny PR knack of the cowboys of this winetrade.
But there is nothing new under the sun.
What today are 100 Parker points has been in previous
centuries the imperial household.
This town of Rust got its township-right already in 1681.
As there is no free lunch with the imperials/royals in this world, Rust
beside a huge lumpsum of gold coins was obliged to deliver 30000 Liter of
Ruster Ausbruch to the imperial household.
..
Prost
.....
F.N.

A vintage leg-of-mutton case, a French one, an "all-in-one"
...
In a previous post I had included a photo of my French vintage "all-in-one" hunting bag.
Here is another French vintage hunting object, a leg-of-mutton case.
...
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/64776
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/64777
...
The stock-compartment has 2 long slim textil-tubes/sleeves to hold a
two-piece cleaning rod.
The cover has a double-bottom, a feature never seen before.
It has at half-depth a rather thick stripe of leather glued along the inside ,
which acts as stop for the second bottom.
This second bottom itself held in place by a small strap with buckle.
What for the whole exercise: A small compartment to hold
cleaning stuff (brushes, ...).
The strap on the outside , which is secured with its buckle, has a slot
which fits onto an eye. Place for a small lock.
As a sign of French perfectionism, the slot strengthened with a
metal-oval.
The label inside the cover is that of the Paris address of Cogswell & Harrison,
which has been valid from 1901 to 1930.
Outside are initials and a crown.
"Diesem Franzosen tut keine Zehe mehr weh".
..
F.N.

...Here is an update from Old Europe...
.....
1. For classic Mannlicher collectors/hunters/freaks
JSE / Vienna has in their online auction this thursday oct 14 a huge batch of these rifles
ex late PK provenience.
Ranging from 243 to 458 incl some rarities like a Gibbs and the usual continental calibres.
I admit the shotgun-alike balancing/handling and the smooth click-clack is most
appealing.
A gunsmith profi told me that the present de-rigueur trend is for a carbon-silencer-
heavily scoped Neo-German weapon to bag on 300 m in Kyrgistan or Tirol.
But observing the bidding-frency I realize that there are folks out , who
-beside the present trend to slow-food/slow-cooking/slow-winemaking -
favour slow-hunting.
This may explain why a 50+ years old Mannlicher carbine without a silencer
and with a simple 4x scope and with a solid Einhak-Montage is still
in demand.
...
2. For techno-freaks
This oct 14 auction includes also a Steyr-Monobloc shotgun in cal 16/65.
Not to confuse with the new Steyr-Monobloc repeating rifle, which has
action and barrel from one piece of steel.
The shotgun has barrels and barrel hooks from one piece of steel, no bottom-rib,
in sidelock version. It is proofed 1922, thus long before CNC times.
Produced by/with sophisticated machinery and a 3-handed mechanic behind.
Why this type of technology did not survive ?
I asked a profi-gunsmith on it.
He recommedend me to look into/check the weight .
It has 2922 g, so for a 16/65 a rather heavy one.
An unfair comparison, but a newish Purdey, which JSE has at hand
for a forthcoming auction, has 2910 g and unbeatable handling/balancing feel.
...
3. For a Liege-gun-afficionado
What is in this auction for a shotgunner.
A sweetie Franz Neuber BLE in 20/65, with a Viennese reproof of 2015.
Neuber was featuring in a previous post of this thread.
Is this worth to mention here ?
Its the nr. 1 of a pair, beautiful full engraving, the barrels have the LG mark.
It is one detail of the engraving - the rose bouquet - which I consider
extraordinarily executed.
It smells for me as "Leonard Smeets" done , though not marked on the
triggerguard.
....
4. What else ?
Not included in the auction, I came across another of these French
double-bottom-cover leg-of-mutton-cases , this time for a pair.
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/65921
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/65920
...
Les Francais set the pace in the 1970's for short polit MTBF.
I observe this my country has learned from them.
To cheer up in these times
here is a photo of my orchid in full blossom.
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/65922
..
Cheers and stay healthy
F.N.

Indeed, Franz Neuber is worth mentioning.....


https://doublegunshop.com/forums/ub...ds=Kalezkiana&Search=true#Post460388

https://doublegunshop.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=388537&page=1

Serbus,

Raimey
rse

.. Here is one more update from Old Europe on vintage guns,rifles, accessories,
related and unrelated matters ....
....
A. K & K times up to 1918
K& K is an abbreviation for Kaiserlich & Koeniglich (translates to Imperial and Royal).
JSE had in their december silent auction more than 1200 lots.
I believe this high volume is triggered by the december 13 due date for the mandatory
registration of shotguns acquired before october 2012 and thus up-to-now unregistered.
This is the Austrian implementation of the EU Waffenrichtlinie invented after the
Bataclan massacre, which reputedly has been done with 3 matched pairs of vintage
Holland Royal Selfopeners and not with AK's.
Shotguns during the time of the Russian occupation of Eastern Austria were free
and unregistered.
...
Guns/rifle
Here are 3 nice examples from this auction.
- J. Heinige /Vienna hammergun
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/67037
- E. Egerth / Pisek / Czechia hammer gun
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/67038
- J. Springer's Erben / Vienna double bore hammer rifle in 500 BPE
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/67039
The last one is worthwile to have a detail look.
I have included the 1897-page from the JSE archive.
It tells sold to a Prinz Matthias Radziwill.
This page has an impressive list of JSE customers, in todays jargon key-accounts.
It starts with Fuerst Stanislaus Lubomirski,
/this Polish aristoclan has been JSE largest customer ordering a total of
34 weapons/
followed by Miecislaw Kosielski,
then this Prinz Radziwill,
Kaiser (emperor) Franz Josef,
Fuerst Stefan Lubomirski,
Grossfuerst Wladislaus von Russland.
But all of that is history. 124 years later and todays reality, its a lot
in a silent auction.
Page from JSE archive
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/67207
Radziwill line
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/67208
....
Gavin Gardiner had in his last auction a pair of JSE 16 bore Anson
estimated at 800-1200 GBP, hammerprice 2200 GBP.
Built in 1905 for count Heinrich Hoyos.
I have asked a trade-profi if one of the dozens of Hoyos descendants will
buy his ancestors pair. His answer. Present days Hoyos drive a Range-Rover
for 70 KE and hunt with a Beretta discounted to 1,5 KE.

...
B. Accessories
A huge batch of leatherware in this auction
- guncases
. my preferred long/stiff ones
. typical Austrian compact ones with cover-flaps on both sides either in
leather or canvas
Looking at the labels contained therein some must have been laying around unused for at least
a century.
A JSE label with historic Stock-im-Eisen address, on the outside of the case a
luggage label from the K&K Donauschiffahrts-Gesellschaft with
"from" address Orsova ( Romania) and "to" address Lom-Palanka (Bulgaria).
The owner used the Danube ship for his hunting trip from Romania
to Bulgaria.
...
Historic JSE label
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/67070
Luggage label
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/67043
A rare case label of Albert Staehle
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/67040
---
JSE cartridge magazine
This is an all-leather model, without wooden frame, a JSE specific, with liftout straps,
the corners stitched together.
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/67069
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/67044
...
How about completed staffwork and a history excursion:
To whom did this vintage catridge magazine belong ?
Possibly to Exc. Ing. K. Marek who got a pair of JSE H&H C16
numbered 10147/10148 in 1914,
which would match also the internal K&K stamp pre 1918.
...
..
C. Post 1918 times ..
The late 1920's and 1930's have been JSE golden years, his only competitor Kalezky
phasing out gradually.
Here are 3 examples of this time, all delivered to JSE agents in
US/NY/Lengerke&Detmold or
Poland/Lvov/Dmytrach ( today named Lviv/Ukraine, named Lemberg in K&K pre-1918 times)
...
Von Lengerke&Detmold label
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/67119
...
Eustacy Dmytrach label -
Courtesy Piotr J.Bochynski / He is the author of an article on Eustacy Dmytrach in
the Polish magazine Strzal 4-5/2012
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/67118
...
JSE pigeon gun with WJN-ligature mark / to US/NY
It has been the mark of William J. Nittler / Origin of
mark clarified in this forum
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/67210
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/67209
...
This is a JSE Vienna-Best gun, went 1925 to Lengerke/NY,
Original barrel length of 663 mm as per Vienna proofhouse records,
my free-hand photos dont do full justice to this beauty,
with a fiddle-back medium brown coloured English stock,
original colour hardening as per gunsmith-profi,
In a superb JSE oak& leather case, the leather with this
not-imitable "Vienna vintage blond",
immaculate canvas cover
.......
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/67261
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/67262
...
JSE hunting gun nr. 1 of a pair, originally to Dmytrach/Poland.
Now sleeved barrels with LP 94, recoloured action.
Nr. 2 has been with a wellknown Austrian hunter (+1988).
The pair has left Poland well before the German invasion of 1939.
Tracking down the where abouts of nr. 2 is one of these cumbersome
reuniting exercises. Reputedly last owner a very sick man under the
care and control of a Polish nurse.
Possibly nr. 2 has found its way already back to its first destination.
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/67120
.....
The last JSE pair I recall has been sold in US for 20 K$
by a dealer operating in the top tier of the market.
The pair originally belonged to the foreign-minister of the last
Romanian king, He took the pair with him when he fled
the country before the approaching red army.
All barrels full choke, typical tool for the hare-battles in
former Eastern Europe.
....

D. Any hunting in 2021 ? Oh yes.
After a completely dry 2020 season due to corona and listening to the
experts that we will face a severe november, I took the chance and celebrated Austria's
national holiday oct 26 at a pheasant shoot in Hungary.
A place near Suemegh, 2 hours drive from Vienna, open borders.
A sunny day in the Puszta plains, a jovial wellcome by theJagdleiter, who
has used the dry 2020 season to learn German.
With an alfresco-lunch, challenging overhead shots in a narrow
forest-aisle, all well done by the Magyars.
No lunatic anti would dare to show up there and disturb the hunt.
....
The hornblowers - always signaling the begin of a drive
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/67003
Brace of Magyar Viszlas
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/67004
The castle of Suemegh
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/67121

E. What does the future hold ?
- The JSE owner/manager invited me to have a look on his new/inhouse built
sidelock-gun, which would be then nr. 10663.
Lets wait and see. Seeing the fate of the British restarts,
I am curious to see if he can manage it better than the Brits.

F. What else does the future hold ?
Then there is Gottlieb Koethe - owner/manager of Lechner & Jungl in
the Styrian capital Graz.
His company founded in 1821 as iron-mongers.
He is building a Boss style over-under in 20 bore, DT, no joke.
No parts ex UK, Germany or Bella Italia, no CNC, all done
inhouse the Robertson way, simply toiling a the bench.
He has affluent customers, a lady-shot travelling with her
pair of L&J 20-bores in her private jet to a grouse shoot
in Scotland.
The Boss if for another lady-shot.

..
G What does the presence hold ?
An exploding magnum corona wave nr. 4, detto lockdown nr. 4.
Not only here but also in neighbouring Merkel-Land.
Triage is happening
IT IS A SHAME...
..
Stay healthy and cheers.
..
F.N.

felix,
Thank you kindly for your very interesting Austrian report which I have enjoyed as always.

Cheers,
Jani

.....
This post has 2 sections.
Section A:
It is rather complementary to a previous one on the JSE auction and its
huge batch of leatherware/accessories.
They had in a lot of 3 vintage very-compact-guncases in perfect
condition which made 825 E.
So there is someone out who appreciates this type of case.
They were "all-in-one" Central-European-types, with double side-
opening flaps, a tube/sleeve for cleaning rod and a small
compartment on the inner flap to hold a cleaning jag/bristle.
Here is a photo from a Fückert/Weipert catalogue showing such a case,
none seen in any JSE or Kalezky catalogue.
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/67894
The Indian Guram brothers have founded a company with the
intention to revive/renew Anglo-Indian heritage items.
(J & R Guram)
Their products include campaign furniture & equipage
based on solid rosewood and brass,
sporting accessories ( in Terry Wood quality)
and associated life-style equipment.
The world is full with the ubiquitous discounted shooting stick with folding
leather seat.
They introduced a Curzon shooters stick as a
versatile outdoor piece , the seat made from robust bamboo cane.
Here is the Central-European counterpart from the Fückert catalogue,
"Patent v. Meenen", elegant and very practical.
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/67893
......
Section B:
Weipert/Vejprty gunmakers.
This has been "terra incognita" still in the 1990's.
I have been curious to close the knowledge gap.
How ?
By field-research.
Drove to Weipert - a town in north/western Czechia at the border to Germany-
started to ask questions on the shops of Morgenstern/Bittner/Fückert.
Got the feeling these are "alien" questions.
The trip only ended with photos of the tombstones in the cemetary.
Finally got the address of the Weiperter Landsmannschaft in Germany,
got from them the info that there are still descendants of all the 3
living in Germany.
I contacted Herbert Morgenstern - then aged 87 -who kindly provided
a copy of a fragmentary Morgenstern catalogue and his photo .
Next step field research in Prague browsing through Weipert/proofrecords,
taking production samples of the years 1903/1911/1925/1937.
All of that resulted into my DGJ article spring 2002

....
..
Then in 2015 Miroslav Slanina published a book
"Puskarstvi ve Vejprtech / Das Büchsenmachergewerbe in Weipert"
ISBN 978-80-88075-03-5 /
A comprehensive oeuvre documenting also the political drama
behind this town and its once florishing trades/industries.
.....
Here are some representative pages from a Gustav Fückert
catalogue pre 1918
...
Fückert catalogue front page
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/67886
Catalogue content
Comment on Russian agency
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/67888
References
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/67889
Fücker top model
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/67890
Mannlicher business
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/67891
FN DGJ article Spring 2002
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/67892
...
F.N.
..
Postscriptum as of 1/17
Have seen the recent additiion by a hunter from Slovakia
- based on the id bazar/search engine - on
a Fückert/Opava supplied Mannlicher in a thread
started by ellenbrs/Raimey in 1909
(Fückert ad of 1883).
I have no more info than the one given in my article.

Serbus,

Raimey
rse