W.A.Edwin Seydlitz (+ 1869), Schppenstedter Str. 7, Brunswick, was a competitor of Heinrich Ludwig Rasch(1818 - 1884),Lagerhof 6, Brunswick, son of Georg Ludwig Rasch (1792 - 1867). Seydlitz's shop was continued by Louis Bruns until 1908, when it was taken over by nephew Louis Knappworst. Knappworst is still a family owned business, now 4th generation, see:
http://www.knappworst.com/ So Rasch was not involved in making it.
Your gun seems to be an early example of a hammerless selfcocker, my guess from the1870s. Without seing photos of the action open, or better yet, disassembled, I can tell nothing about the action and lockwork, but it has most likely triggerplate locks. Such early guns were most often made one at a time by individual gunmakers. The Damascus barrels were bought in from Belgium and the forgings for action and lock parts could be made by any blacksmith. Both Rasch and Seydlitz apparently had their guns engraved by the same local, Brunswick engraver, as the patterns resemble very much.
BTW, "Brunswick" is the English name for the northern German city "Braunschweig".
