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LOT 3218
Finely Engraved, Inlaid, and Elaborately Relief Carved Stock 1597 Dated Wheellock Jaeger Rifle - NSN, 58 cal., 31 3/4 inch octagon bbl., bright finish, walnut stock. This incredibly ornate and rare dated German wheellock sporting rifle has a maker’s mark of “MM” and a man on the barrel and lock that is listed in “Der Neue Stockel” as likely from a Regensburg maker of wheellock rifles c. 1580-1610 which
fits the “1597” date on the stock inlay on the bottom ahead of the lock which is also engraved with “S.W.V.P.” and a coat of arms. The swamped octagon barrel has round bottom, eight-groove rifling as well as blade and notch sights and a beaded border at the breech. The lock has a floral border and scroll engraving etched wheel along with an interesting pan cover that pivots rather than slides back and forth. The rifle has adjustable double set triggers and an extended finger groove trigger guard of iron. The stocks is what really sets the rifle apart and is essentially embellished along all of the visible surfaces. The wood itself has extensive relief carved German floral scroll patterns along with a hunter and dogs pursuing a hare on the upper right
side of the butt, a large portrait of a man with a sword on his hip on the underside
of the breech section, an extensive and highly detailed set of scenes of hunters and
dogs in the woods on a deer hunt running along the left stock flat and butt, chevron floral patterns along the sides of the ramrod channel, and scaled patterns on the underside of the cheekpiece. The rifle also has antique ivory/stag-horn borders and inlays, including a nude classical female figure on the ramrod pipe, the noted plate on the bottom, a scene of two loves into he woods with an estate in the background on the patchbox lid, three masks bordering the barrel tang, and additional mask and floral elements. The buttplate is translucent horn.
The rifle can be seen on-line in the William Randolph Hearst Archive at LIU where it is noted as purchased by Hearst from the Samuel Austin Sale through American Art Association, April 26, 1917. Notes in the patch box list this rifle as exhibited at the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893 and has been part of the collections of Richard Zschille, Samuel H. Austen, William Randolph Hearst, and Joe Kindig Jr. Outside of this note, the rifle is known to have been subsequently owned by Ray Petry, and Dr. Douglas Sirkin. The maker’s marks was incorrectly noted those of Peter Opel when sold as part of Sirkin’s collection.