An Unusual 24-Bore German Wheel-Lock Sporting Carbine With Concealed Spanning Mechanism

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The following fifteen lots (nearly all of which are engraved with an old armoury number) are believed to have come from Jagdschloß Kranichstein, now in the suburbs of Darmstadt, first recorded by that name in 1572, but at its height as a hunting lodge during the reigns of the Landgraves Ernst Ludwig (1667-1739, reg. 1678-1739) and, above all, his son Ludwig VIII (1691-1768, reg. 1739-1768). Both were passionate hunters, and their activities in connection with this brought Hesse-Darmstadt to the edge of financial ruin. They enlarged and beautified the castle, and in 1715, after a fire in the Residenz in Darmstadt, began successively to use it as an alternative residence for themselves and the Court: Ludwig, in fact, held his Court almost continuously at Kranichstein and formed a major collection of hunting weapons there. This was kept in the large two-storied 'hunting arsenal' (Jagdzeughaus) that had been built during the period 1688-90 by Ernst Ludwig, together with a large collection of hunting equipment of all kinds Later rulers of Hesse-Darmstadt embellished and made alterations to the castle. In 1918, the last Grand Duke decided to open it to the public as a museum, and to this end assembled in it all the hunting material from other branches of the family and other residences. After the destruction of Darmstadt in 1944 the castle became an old-peoples' home for a time and the collection was put into store. In 1952 the last member of the Grand-Ducal family, Prince Ludwig (d. 1968), placed it and its contents in the guardianship of the "Hessischer Jägerhof" - a foundation for the preservation of hunting territory and traditions, but a considerable number of pieces were sold. The castle is also well known in music circles for the holiday courses on modern music that have been held there annually since 1946

An Unusual 24-Bore German Wheel-Lock Sporting Carbine With Concealed Spanning Mechanism

BY JOHANN GSELL, SAALBURG, DATED 1666

Details

An Unusual 24-Bore German Wheel-Lock Sporting Carbine With Concealed Spanning Mechanism
By Johann Gsell, Saalburg, dated 1666
With swamped signed and dated octagonal sighted barrel cut with twelve alternating wide and narrow grooves and engraved with panels of scrollwork on a hatched ground at the muzzle and breech and around the back-sight, the top of the breech grooved for sighting and cut back on the right side for the lock, plain tang, flat lock engraved on the tail with scrollwork inhabited by a bird and a hind, all on a hatched ground, engraved cock, flat brass wheel-cover pierced with flowers and foliage, sliding pan-cover, full stock with fluted fore-end, the butt carved in relief with panels of scrolling foliage bearing flowers and fruit, a dog, a bear, and on the patch-box cover, a bird, iron trigger-guard, scroll engraved iron butt-plate, engraved staghorn fore-end cap, forward ramrod-pipe, and side-nail washers, set trigger, and wooden ramrod with engraved staghorn tip, the butt housing a bar which, when pulled out, spans the lock
26¼in. (66.7cm.) barrel

Special notice

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

Lot Essay

The late owner's handwritten note in the patch-box describes the rifle's unusual winding mechanism, and gives its provenance, Landgrave Ludwig VII of Hesse-Darmstadt

The maker is presumably Johann Gsell of the Gsell family of Arzberg in Bavaria. The son of Aegidi Gsell, he moved to Schleiz in 1668, and was appointed 'Reuss-Planischer Bedienter und Büchsenmacher'. Johann was the inventive maker of two wheel-lock carbines with barrels encased in glass, one of which (dated 1688), from the armoury of the Princes zu Salm-Reifferscheidt-Dyck at Schloß Dyck, was sold in these Rooms, 23 September 1992, lot 444. The Dyck carbine is decorated in a very similar manner to the present example

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