I had full faith in the craftsmen of Suhl to have a deep talent pool. "WB" must have retired circa Sauer #186309 as "FB" appears on Sauer Meisterwerk #179703. This hints that the high end frames were sourced to the "B" family and Barthelmes is about the only "B" family with a F. & a W. There was a Fritz Barthelmes who was born in 1899 and was the designer of the P.38 Walther but I'd hedge my bets on Franz or Friedrich Theodor Barthelmes, with more weight toward Franz and I'd bet there were 2 generations of Franz. Of course there's other Zella Saint Blasii "B"s like Bauer, Walter Böhme but Bauer was mainly pistols and Böhme was a retail outlet.
If anyone has GGCA #33, Summer 2007, page 23 there's a Johann Jakob Reeb that may have been sourced from Sauer. I sure would like to see pics of the flats and watertable.
Kind Regards,
Raimey
rse
