Need help identifying a double barrel

auctions@bestpawn.com

We're having trouble identifying a double barrel. It seems to be a very old and expensive one; it has many proofmarks, especially on the on the bottom of the barrel. It has 3 "logos" in a column that are repeated 3 times, twice on the bottom of the barrel on each side, and once on the part of the stock that connects to the barrel, which are what it seems to be, starting from the top one, a star a crown and the letter "U". On the barrel this same crown is repeated on both sides of it (to the right of the 3 logo proofmark), but one on the left there's an "S" under the crown and a "W" on the other side. The serial numbers match on both the stock and the barrel (17XXX). There's a 3rd part that comes off the bottom, (which is also embellished with checkering on both the wood and metal parts) in order to disassemble the gun. This is the only way you can access view to the proofmarks. Another important detail is that this gun has a very fancy engraving; to the left there are pheasants, to the right quails and the trigger frame a rabbit. There are also leaves and checkering all over the metal. There is also checkering on the woodden part of the gun. On the top of the barrel there is the name "Englebert Bamman Landshut", which is very nicely engraved, who seems to be the original owner.

Thanks for taking your time to read this description, and for any help that you can provide to identify this gun.

Iroquois Scout

What is the three logo proof mark, ELG?

rufe-snow

The Proof Marks with the crowns & letters are late 19th century German. "Proof Law of 1891"

#1, Crown "U", Final or Definitve Proof.

#2, Crown "S", Proof mark applied to smoothbored barrels.

#3, Crown "W", Proof mark for choked barrels.

rufe-snow

Little additional digging in an encyclopedia came up with this.


" LANDSHUT ", industrial city in Germany, in the state of Bavaria, 63 km (39 mi) northeast of Munich, on the Isar River.

auctions@bestpawn.com

Thanks rufe-snow for the information. It seems that Bavaria-Landshut not only a place is but also used for a last name. Kinda like Michael Jackson and Jackson, Mississippi. Do you think that the engraved name is the manufacturer's name or the owner's?

It doesn't have the elg proofmark that I think its for the belgium guns.

auctions@bestpawn.com

Man!, I totally messed up that sentence, it should read: " It seems that Bavaria-Landshut is not only the name of a place but is also used as a last name"...Thanks [:)]

rufe-snow

Sir, I believe that ENGLEBERT BAMMAN of Landshut Bavaria is either the gunsmith who built the shotgun, or the retailer who sold it.

auctions@bestpawn.com

We did some more research on this gun and finally came up with a possible brand, Merkel. The gun looks like their "side-by-side" shotgun. The engravings looks very similar (since it seems that they have several designs) even the engraving on the back of the barrel looks exactly the same as the other Merkel models. Also, Merkel guns are made in Suhl, Germany; which I think would have been very easy for somebody like "Baaman Landshut" to get one of these and then bring it here to the US. My questions would be more about the age of the gun, and if there any definite proof that is a Merkel. We wrote an email to the Merkel guns official website but we have no answer. Again, the serial number is 17XXX.

Guns & Glass

The gun is commonly called a "Cottage Gun". Many of very high quality.
if the same gun were done under a brand name, especially one that exported, they would cost alot more.

These were made by many 'companies' which often times were a small family business pretty much like small gunsmiths
Except that different companies-families would each do a part of the gun. Some did engraving, some did the woodwork, some did the metal work, some the polishing/bluing, and so on.

The Merkel #200 action was used quite alot.


Happy Bullet Holes!