Don’t get too caught up by the “HofBuchsenmacher” title as it was similar to the K&K Hoflieferanten or Kaiserliche & Koingliche Hoflieferanten or Maker/Supplier to the Imperial and Royal Court and was pretty much just a marketing tool. The makers were suppliers to the court but it could have been for the gamekeeper where the top cat hunts or some relative of the top cat or one of his servants. The title wasn't limited to supplying the King/Kaiser only. For each empire there were volumes which chronicled the suppliers to the court and some particulars. But take Heinrich(Max.??) Barella for instance. In the mid 1840s he worked in Magdeburg and more than likely became a master gunsmith at or just before this time. But the mid 1860s he was a supplier or top maker to the Prussian Royal Court. And in 1871 he was a gunsmith and/or supplier to the Royal Court in Berlin. All examples supplied were supposed to be of benchmark quality but not all were owned by the Emperor/ruler and weren’t fully embellished. The appointment as a supplier was greatly sought after and I think there was a yearly fee involved. So some time between the 1840s and 1870s he probably made the transition to Berlin where the money was. Barella is purported to have had clients such as the King of Italy and Romania as well as the Tsar of Russia. I can’t say it he lived into the 20th Century but I guess not and that his heirs and assigns continued on. The same is with Heinrich Leue, (1838-1897?), as his heirs and assigns continued the business using the Hof-Buchsenmacher as a marketing tool and by 1916, or the end of WWI, I don’t think the suppliers were supplying to too many Royal Courts. Also probably beating a dead horse, but by turn of the 20th Century they didn’t make the longarms they supplied as they contracted to the best craftsmen, some of which were in Suhl and surrounding areas.
Kind Regards,
Raimey
rse
