doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion German & Austrian Sporting Guns @ doublegunshop.com Scherping Rejects Brenneke as Apprentice Gunmaker

Interesting Brenneke artikel discovered by Wolfgang where Scherping rejects Brenneke as an apprentice gunmaker, saying gunmaking is not your forte Boy....


https://www.pirsch.de/feuilleton/brenneke-mehr-als-nur-flintenlaufgeschosse-41839


>>Der am 30. März 1865 in Hannover geborene Brenneke wollte eigentlich einen Weg als Büchsenmacher einschlagen, doch der Hofbüchsenmacher Heinrich Scherping (1831 – 1913) lehnte ihn ab. Was sollte der junge Brenneke nun lernen? In Hannover begann er deshalb eine Lehre zum Schlosser und Geldschrankbauer, bevor er seinen Militärdienst bei der Kaiserliche Marine ableistete und nach einigen Zwischenstationen in Leipzig als Versandbuchhändler arbeitete<<


Hochachtungsvoll,

Raimey
rse

Wilhelm Brenneke was an inventor and bigmouth marketing salesman (very American, on either leg).

He never was a gunsmith or artisan.

So, do tell 7,35 Carcano as inquiring minds are wondering how ole BigMouth Brenneke made guns or opened a gunshop without having a gunmaker's sheepskin? But he was a superb lockmaker, a craft where he excelled??


Hochachtungsvoll,

Raimey
rse

Good grief !

Sheepskins went out of fashion after the Argonauts already.

And to open a shop with guns and ammunition in Germany, you needed no master's examination by a guild, needed not even to be an approved journeyman.
The long (one and a half centuries long) political and social quest for the Großer und Kleiner Befähigungsnachweis is an important (and too rarely consciously realized and borne in mind) part of Germany's economic history, but I will not reiterate it here. Igor Karklinsh, the great historian and august master, has sketched out, what four generations of German gunwriters were unable to do. It were, ultimately - who else?! - the Nazis who crashed open the gates, and set new demands. If I shall name one name in this context, it is Robert Hübner; who died, a broken and mournful man over his achievements, in the terrorizing Allied firestorm that incinerated his house and workshop in formerly grand-ducal Darmstadt.

Carcano

7,35 Carcano:

Does Germany not still have a few barristers that use sheepskins to pen deeds as we do here in Alabama?

I do not have any idea on German Law, but I was under the impressions, false or not, that a German Gunshop shall have a resident Master Gunsmith?


Hochachtungsvoll,

Raimey
rse

Answering the questions:
- In Germany, any legal use of parchment and vellum faded out in the 18th century, and I would not even know whether it was the beginning of the 18th century.
- Only the Roman Curia retained parchment up into the late 19th or even 20th century, and only for special ocassions, like papal bulls or special liturgical purpose.
- Diplomas have, at least since the early 19th century, been calligraphed on paper, not on parchment (and "parchment paper" or "velin paper" have of course nothing to do with any animal skins).
- Parchment is used today for bookbinding and restoration, for some private, non-official craft work (artistic calligraphy), and of course widely among the Jewry worldwide, for ritual purpose.

- Exactly the other way around. A gunsmithing mastership diploma - or, to be very precise and correct, not the diploma itself, but the usually subsequent official entry in the "Roll of Artisans" with the regional Chamber of Artisans and Craftspersons - confers to the holder / entrant the full rights of a German federal firearms licence. So, all master gunsmiths with own workshop also "have" an FFL equivalent, for engaging in the trade (which is 90 % of their income, usually 95 %). But the vast majority of the many FFL holders have no gunsmithing diploma - neither journeyman nor master - and have never learned the craft. Hence, they are not licenced to produce firearms, or to do any major repairs on them, themselves.

Carcano

Capital Effort on the FFL info. So that's how widows pressed on selling their wares?? I was always under the impression that the sale was sanctioned by the Guild, and that's what provided the legal lining......


Hochachtungsvoll,

Raimey
rse

My 1972 Chemical Engineering diploma from the University of Tennessee is on sheepskin.

I'll give my Scherping double rifle an extra wipe down this weekend in celebration of Heinrich's flying elbow drop on Brenneke, though I have no dog in the fight and like Brenneke's slugs.

The University of Tennessee did issue sheepskin diplomas historically, with at least one confirmed example from the late 19th century.
Today, however, the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK) issues diplomas on paper, not sheepskin. Current UTK diplomas are produced in specific standard sizes on quality paper.
Historically, many institutions, including the University of Tennessee, originally produced diplomas handwritten on thin sheepskin (parchment). This practice generally ended about 100 years ago when institutions began using parchment paper and standardizing sizes.

Is it possible that you actually graduated in 1872 instead of 1972???

Harvard University stopped issuing sheepskin diplomas around 200 years ago.