doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Napoleon and Kuchenreuters questions? With Images

I am sure that Napoleon recieved many gifts of firearms. The finest examples of Napoleons guns are to be seen in the Musee de L,Armee, Paris.
Examples of Napoleons guns are to be seen on pages 96 & 184 of the book,"100 Great Guns,"by,Merrill Lindsay.The makers illustrated are Boutet and LePage. The stock on the LePage gun/rifle is similar to that seen on the shotgun picture in the post.The illustrated example has Napoleons crest in gold inleted in the stock.I think that a check with the Museum in Paris would be in your best interest.

I was able to get a few more images but still very little specific information about this gun

Hi Raimey,
When are you coming over?
I only live 60km from Regensburg, 100km from Cham and 150 from the Suhl museum. Stay at my place.

Der Familienbetrieb KUCHENREUTER "Jagd und Tracht" besteht bereits seit 1640.
Begonnen hat es mit der Büchsen- macherei und selbst bis zum Adel hatte es sich schon damals rumgesprochen, dass die Kuchenreuter-Büchsen einmalig sind.
Nicht nur Jäger und Schützen schätzen unsere Produkte, auch die bayerischen Könige und die Fürsten von Thurn und Taxis. Bereits Kaiser Napoleon, Fürst von Metternich, die Zaren von Russland und die Kaiser von Österreich waren stolze Besitzer von Kuchenreuter-Waffen. Selbst Casanova duellierte sich damals mit einer Pistole von Kuchenreuter und verwundete seinen Gegner schwer.

http://www.kuchenreuter.de/datei?datei_id=1
= the family tree link.

http://www.kuchenreuter.de/datei?datei_id=2
= a 100 page history of the family.

I took possession of the �Napoleon� gun for a short period of time in order to take a volume of photographs. There is no provenance on this gun� no papers� only an ownership trail for the past two owners. However, it is a spectacular gun! There are markings on the barrel of the gun which I hope can be used to identify the maker or company. Additionally, there is an emblem or Crest which was with the gun, which I am assuming to be of some significance. However, compared to the gun the emblem is of poor quality. The stock carving are wonderfully ornate and of the highest quality. I hope the images capture the true beauty. The gold inlays and engravings are also of the highest quality. If any of these �markers� are familiar to board members I would welcome your thoughts. Knowing I have much research ahead of me, I thought I might start with some passionate experts right here on the boards. Thanks.

Are there any other proof marks on this gun?

Pete

Additional images of proof marks.

If you don't mind me asking.....what makes you desire these guns ?

These guns are wonderful, historic, pieces of art. They represent the finest works of the world's earliest gunmakers. One can only imaging the time, skill and patience necessary to create such a gun. The intricacy of the carving, the engraving, and the tooling is spectacular. And, in this case, the research underway to determine this guns history will provide endless entertainment. Personally, I would say such a gun can be compared to the finest paintings from artists of that era such as Chardin or Monet. Each individual gun is a masterpiece.

Windy,

The double flint looks to be a very fancy but not especially high quality Belgian gun from about 1800. To see the stuff that old Bony was using, take a look at the James D. Julia catalog for session 2 March 16, 2010 where a few Boutets are pictured. [jdjuliaauctions.com, firearms division, past auctions].

The Kuchenreuters look to be of excellent quality and condition from what I can see in the photos. Any better close-ups available?

All the best, Mal