Some resurrected info on ole Wilhelm Förster:

>>W. Foerster was a master gunsmith and a supplier to the Royal Court of Carl(1801-1883) von Preussen from 50 Tauben Strasse 50, Ecke Der Kanonier Strasse, or what I think to mean as also being at/near the corner of Cannon Street. Carl von Preussen was the 3rd son of King Friedrich William III of Prussian. Carl had 5 sisters one of them being Charlotte of Prussia, who had a very close relationship with Carl von Preussen demonstrated by her caring for Carl even after she was wed to Tsar Nicholas I of Russian. Carl von Preussen attended her coronation to the title of Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna. Carl von Preussen visited Russian several times and this is the social network/connection that allowed W. Foerster to be a firearms merchant/supplier to kings and Tsars. Firearms merchants with a royal appointment or being interconnected to the court seems to really elevate the status of the maker/supplier in the eyes of many & the firearms merchant touts that thru advertising. W. Foerster seems to have had such a following in Russia. But W. Foerster hit the jackpot with his royal warrant/supplier to the Royal Court of Carl von Preussen as Carl took the military route for his ascension and by 1824 he had the rank of Major-General which was a stepping stone for head of artillery by the 1850s. Carl looks to have had a great interest in hunting and passed the passion by purchasing the Glienicke hunting lodge for his son Prince Friedrich Karl, which was yet another source for W. Foerster to supply.<<

>>Finally, after searching & searching I finally stumbled across a late 1872 advert of W. Foerster touting his dubbed title of HofBüchsenmacher. So by 1871, or very early 1872, W. Foerster received his Royal Warrant while at Berlin Taubenstraße 45.<<


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Cheers,

Raimey
rse