A Very Rare 18-Bore German Flintlock Sporting Carbine With Upside-Down Mechanism

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Schloß Ettersburg The following four lots are from the famous Gewehrkammer at Schloß Ettersburg, Saxony, which was assembled by the Grand Dukes of Saxe-Weimar, principally Ernst August I (1688-1748), and Ernst August II (1737-1758). Thanks to the latter's Duchess, who was a patroness of writers and artists, Ettersburg became an artistic centre which reached its peak in the reign of Carl August (reg. 1758-1815), patron of the poets Schiller and Goethe. The Grand Dukes commissioned firearms well beyond their needs, presumably as works of art, and many were put to so little use that they have survived in pristine condition The first dispersal of firearms from the castle was the auction of 120 guns and rifles held by Fischer and Kahlert in Luzern on 2 August 1927 (which included lots 122 and 124 of the present sale), but many pieces were sold privately by Kahlert in Berlin, and by Hans Schedelmann. The auction sale of Kahlert's bankrupt stock in Berlin in June 1940 included numerous Ettersburg pieces, and the total number of guns and pistols in the collection was several hundred

A Very Rare 18-Bore German Flintlock Sporting Carbine With Upside-Down Mechanism

EARLY 18TH CENTURY

Details

A Very Rare 18-Bore German Flintlock Sporting Carbine With Upside-Down Mechanism
Early 18th Century
With swamped octagonal sighted barrel cut with seven grooves, the rear of the breech with a line of beadwork between engraved bands, the right side of the muzzle with lightly engraved hinged bayonet, border engraved tang, figured walnut full stock carved in relief with foliage and with incised foliate decoration (fore-stock cracked), lightly engraved iron mounts, carved patch-box cover, iron sling swivels and fore-end cap, original iron-tipped ramrod, and baize-covered wooden barrel plug
25¼in. (64.2cm.) barrel

Provenance

Th. Fischer and E. Kahlert & Son, Luzern, 2 August 1927, lot 5 (plate VIII)
Major Th. Jakobsson, Stockholm, Sotheby & Co., London, 10 May 1932, lot 2
Galerie Fischer, Luzern, 29 November 1972, lot 150 (plates 18, 23)

Literature

Howard L. Blackmore, Guns and Rifles of the World, plates 285-6

Special notice

VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price plus buyer's premium.

Lot Essay

The action of this rifle, with the spring-work mounted on the trigger-plate, is one of the very earliest forms of box-lock on a longarm

A note in the patch-box gives the rifle's provenance and explains its rarity

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