A bit of info I've gleaned on the Karl Stiegele concern:
Sources give that there was a Stiegele active in the guntrade from 1793 forward. Karl Stiegele has its roots in Ingolstadt where Karl Stiegele senior hung out his gunmaking shingle there in 1837(some sources give 1835) and due to demand in 1852 he moved to München where the power of the Isar River was harnessed to drive the machinery where some 20 – 25 craftsmen were employed by the mid 1860s. I've read a few posts that give that there was an 1813 opening date in Dillingen an der Donau and there were 3 generations but the numbers just don't add up for that and there must have been at least 4 generations. From addresses and listings it would appear that they lived as well as had a retail outlet at Knöbelstraßse 13, probably typical 3 story building, and had a bullet factory at Maximilianstraße #4c(also #4) and later they were at Maximilianstraße #33. Bullets were for the most part the name of the game and daily production in the 1860s ranged from 60k to 70,000 per day in all shapes and calibres. Adverts and articles suggest that by the late 1850s Karl Stiegele Seiner/Senior was winding down his career as a Büchsenmacher and preparing to hand the torch to Karl Stiegele Junior. Can't pin it down for sure but circa 1864 seems to be the time when Karl Stiegele Junior attained the rank of master gunsmith. Little did he know that his grandson was going to deplete the family coffers and run the business in the ground in the process. Also the year 1863, possibly early1864, held some down times for Karl Stiegele Junior as he had some affliction or serious illness and a visit to a spa, possibly Hotel Guttenberg of Strasbourg France?, evidently aided in his recovery; therefore, for the rest of his life he would make the annual pilgrimage for some 50 years till 1913, a date I surmise he expired. In December of 1864 articles suggest that Karl Stiegele Senior at Knöbelstraßse 13/1 migrated to the status of a private citizen and was either appointed or elected as councilman or head of the governing body for the 39th City District of München by the mayor. So with your father on the City Council of München it would seem quite easy to be sourced for sporting weapons for the court of kings on the continent as well as those of foreign governments. Karl Stiegele Junior was a contemporary of Valentin Greiß as well as Johann Müller(J. Miller), owner of the firm Baader und Sohn Hofbüchsenmacher at Briennenstraße 10 by the late 1860s. Info suggest that he acquired his royal appointment/warrant in February/March of 1866 and by 1868 Karl Stiegele Junior was advertising as könglich Hof-Gewehrfabrikant but me thinks he was more of a Geschoßfabrikant or bullet designer/maker like that of Wilhelm Brenneke. This sourcing of the court elevated his wife and any daughters to hop-knob with the elite, opening opportunities I'm sure. It allowed he & his family to have psuedo court status. A little later his was dubbed with the honouary title of Kommerzienrat, which was used up till the end of WWI and possibly into the mid 1920s in Bavarian areas. It noted a very successful merchant who added to the country as a whole.
1868 Advert - It appears that Karl Stiegele Junior acquired the royal warrant/court advertising title and not his father?
I think this is a circa 1907 photo and it is from a 1907 article. By this time he should have turned over the reins of the company to his depraved son and Kommerzienrat Karl Stiegele Junior may have expired some 6 years later.
Kind Regards,
Raimey
rse
