Just saw a Fanzoi side lock double rifle on Proxibid - Joe Pyle August 13 auction - lot number 104022. It’s chambered in .458 Win. Mag. Not my favorite, and it doesn’t clarify whether a Ricard or Josef Fanzoi, but either is exceptional quality. Right now the bidding is only at $2400. If anyone is interested. I have no connection to this auction.
Interesting Johann Fanzoj DR where he used the old Slovenian name with the i spelling instead of a j. 21 attributes it to him and thanks to Jani we now know that the datecode >>CTM<< is Oktober 1985, when the longarm passed thru the Ferlach proof facility.
Cheers,
Raimey
rse
And too note the 2 screws in the floorplate along with the screws at the lower portion of the sides all pointing to an Anson & Deeley Body Action with (false) sideplates.
Cheers,
Raimey
rse
If I’d just blown the photos up, I’d have noticed the side plated Boxlock design. Thanks for the extra research. This one holds no interest for me, but it could be a really good buy for someone. Numerous Johan and Ricard Fanzoi (and Fanzoj) firearms have moved through my hands, and they’ve always been of exceptional quality.
I have to say the gold inlays, especially the caliber marking, is poor.
I'll have to ask Johann what he was thinking or what the client requested.
Bryant:
Have you handled any drillings or scatterguns?
Cheers,
Raimey
rse
Someone posted here for a short time as "Johann Fanzoj". He claimed to be the gun-maker, and he may well have been, but unfortunately he received the well known rude welcome that often happens on our forum and left...Geo
Interesting George & most correct:
Rev: For the Ferlach info, you might contact Johann Fanzoj, the Austrian gunmaker. He used to post here, but I haven't heard from him for a couple of years. He is a very likeable sort and could probably help, as his Family has been making guns for several hundred years.MDC
Must have been prior to 2005????
Cheers,
Raimey
rse
Rainey, Drillings and shotguns, including a 3-barrel set that was all rife calibers (no shotgun barrel(s) at all) and a gorgeous 9-pin sidelock Ricard Fanzoj shotgun.
I don't know Ricard right off; was he a brother to Johann or what?
Cheers,
Raimey
rse
Ricard was Johan’s uncle. Johan and I communicated when I had the gun, and he confirmed this.
Must have been a flurry of bidding in the final hours as it looks to have sold @ $8k U.S. of A. plus fees?
Cheers,
Raimey
rse
Well, I haven't gotten to the crux of the matter, but Ricard/Richard is NOT Johann's Uncle. Working on the particulars but Ricard/Richard may have been a long lost cousin of Johann's Father?
Cheers,
Raimey
rse
Rainey, I could be recollecting incorrectly - seems to happen more often with age. I communicated with Johan back in 2005 or 2006 about a Ricard Fanzoj I had in the Sidney, NE Cabela’s Gun Library. I’d have sworn that he identified Ricard as an uncle. I kept those emails in my files at Cabela’s, but I left there rather abruptly and had no opportunity to retrieve lots of interesting information. I have no question that Johan identified Ricard as a relative and was familiar with him.
Bryant:
I am working on the details seeing I well know Johann's kids & speak with them often. Neither had any knowledge of Ricard/Richard but they are working on the relationship.
Cheers,
Raimey
rse
Still diggin', but seems that Richard Fanzoi's family was from lower Ferlach. He was something like a 2nd cousin to Johann and both Richard and Richard's father expired in the 1960s?
More later.
Cheers,
Raimey
rse
Richard Fanzoi (born 1934) was son of Josef Fanzoi (b. 1894). They were from Medborovnica/Unterferlach, now integrated into Ferlach. The son died in the 1960s while the father followed him in the early 1970s.
Cheers,
Jani