Hello Argo44,
Thank you very much for your kind welcome and your encouraging words.
Yes, these are indeed the same gun and the original factory record kindly posted by Raimey. I was fortunate to receive a copy of the Gewehrkarte directly from the Merkel archives.
I also own a Merkel 47EL shotgun, and I have recently requested its factory record from the Merkel archives as well. I am currently looking forward to their reply.
The historical relationship between Suhl and Saint-Étienne is a fascinating subject, and I hope my research will help shed a little more light on it.
Living in Belgium, I also have the opportunity to come across many wonderful Liège-made sporting guns in local gun shops—makers such as Mahillon,Grofils, Ancion, Lebeau-Courally and Lebègue are always a pleasure to discover and study.
I will be happy to share additional photographs and any new information as my research progresses.
Best regards,
MaitreLucius
