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LOT 3274
Elaborate Silver Mounted, Relief Engraved, Gold Inlaid, and Relief Carved Caspar Zelner Viennese Flintlock Sporting Gun - NSN, 20 gauge, 40 1/4 inch part octagon bbl., fire
blue/gold/silver/bright finish, deluxe walnut stock. This deluxe sporting gun from c. 1720-1730 by
royal gunmaker Caspar Zelner (aka Zellner, 1661-1745) of Vienna has attractive cast silver mounts
with a wide variety of designs, including scroll and floral designs, a mounted stag hunting scene on the side
plate, dogs and stag heads, an owl on the toeplate, hunter with spear and dog on the buttplate tang below a mask, and
a coronet and putti on the blank wrist escutcheon. The smooth-bore, two-stage, Spanish-form barrel is fire blued and features
a silver “spider” base front sight, decorative girdles at the transition, and Spanish style sunken maker’s marks with gold fill at the breech
including a cross, “crown/CAS/BAR/ZEL/NER” and a running stag. The tang is engraved and includes the number “2” suggesting the gun was part of a set. The flat, beveled lock has “CASPAR ZELNER/IN. WIENN.” signed in gold inlay below the non-bridled pan, gold inlaid scroll design on the tail which has a
pointed finial, extensive interlaced scrollwork, some gold highlighting in the backgrounds, and a shell design on the top of the frizzen. A sling swivel is mounted to the forend, and a sling stud is on the bottom of the butt. The finely figured stock has extensive molding, raised relief scroll carving, a carved trigger guard, and a cheekpiece.
CONDITION: Fine with 50% of the lightly fading fire blue finish on the barrel, bright original gold (some missing from the sunken barrel markings), mostly bright lock with crisp engraving and repaired cock, attractive aged patina and crisp designs on the silver furniture, and generally minor overall wear. The stock is also fine and has crisp carving,
nice figure, smooth finish, general minor scratches and dings, a restored forend (spliced just ahead of the ramrod entry pipe), and minor overall wear. The ramrod is a nice replacement. Mechanically excellent.
Estimate: 6,500 - 9,500
LOT 3275
Very Unique Finely Engraved, Silver and Gold Inlaid Christian Ludwig von der Fecht
Superposed Load Flintlock Jager Rifle - NSN, 60 cal., 22 1/2 inch octagon bbl., brown/
casehardened/niter blue finish, walnut stock. This rifle by Christian Ludwig von der Fecht (1769-1827) is a very
rare example of a civilian hunting rifle designed for superposed loads. The rifle has two locks and two triggers.
The left lock sits further forward on the barrel to fire the first shot, and the rear lock sits back in the normal position to fire the
second shot. With this rifle’s arrangement, having both locks at full-cock would be risky since the rear shot could accidentally be fired prior
to the first. It was probably intended to be used with both secure at half-cock and then have the cocks be brought to full-cock one at a time. The barrel has seven-groove
rifling, a dovetailed silver blade front sight, dovetailed notch rear sight, and platinum vent liners. The left lock is secured to the barrel by a screw, and the screw to secure the right
lock is concealed underneath. The locks are signed “C.L. V.D. FECHT.” (right) and “IN BERLIN” (left) in gold and have border engraving. The stock has a horn forend cap, scrolling trigger guard, checkered wrist, rounded cheekpiece, silver wire inlays, a niter blue heel plate, and a wooden patchbox lid. Ramrod absent.
CONDITION: Very fine with 75% original brown finish, 60% original case colors, bright original gold and platinum, aged patina on the silver, strong blue and straw colors on the standing breech and heel plate, and general mild wear including some oxidation. The stock is also very fine and has crisp checkering, scattered dings and scratches, and some edge wear. Mechanically fine. The writer cannot recall another example
184 quite like this. Truly unique! Estimate: 6,000 - 9,000