..The oldest Springer case label ....
A dealer in antique household-items had on offer
a Springer-double-guncase with the typical
side-opening-flaps AND to my surprise
the oldest Springer label I ever came across.
He told me he has found it at a provincial
flea-market.
I brought it to the attention of the house
of Springer and it will move to their museum.
My guess it dates from ca 1860,
no "Erben"-script yes, no imperial
appointment, nor any sign of the medals won.
So here it is:
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/55748
In remarkable good condition, with a
small leather compartment for the cleaning rod
and something similar for a turnscrew(?).
Probably empty for a century or more in an attic
or forgotten cupboard
......
..Felix Neubeger
......
The Musee de la Chasse et de la Nature in Paris
has a deluxe Lefaucheux type of shotgun with this double
Springer/Nowotny signature.It belonged to
Henri d'Artois,count of Chambord, who settled into
Frohsdorf castle near Vienna in 1844.
The dates given are for Johann Springer 1819-1875 and
for Matthias Nowotny 1825-1856.
As per finding of a Prague-museum-Kustos this
Viennese Nowotny has been the uncle of the
Prague gunmaker Jan Nowotny.

Last edited by felix; 12/22/18 02:26 PM.