Antique Arms & Hunting

Our range includes objects from the late Middle Ages to the 19th century. These include cutting and stabbing weapons - swords, rapiers, sabres, daggers, halberds, polearms, armour, harness, helmets and shields, and last but not least historical firearms and long-range weapons such as matchlock muskets and rifles, wheellock rifles and wheellock pistols, wheellock buffers, flintlock rifles, shotguns, flintlock pistols, crossbows and bullet shooters. These were not only used for personal and military armament, but also for the judiciary or for courtly hunting. They also reflect the stylistic and technical developments of the times. The range is rounded off by uniforms, medals and other decorations.

In the Renaissance and Baroque periods, particularly elaborate and artistic weapons were created, some of which were made from precious materials and were reserved for the nobility, princes and royal families. These include crossbows, ceremonial rifles and pistols that combine technology and craftsmanship to the highest perfection. These often had carved shafts and handles, some with figurative decorations through engravings, fine horn, ivory, mother-of-pearl and silver inlays, gold and silver inlaid damask barrels, locks with artistic iron cutting. This means that important owners, clients, armourers and gunsmiths can be identified for a number of weapons in our auctions. Monograms, coats of arms and corresponding crowns often link the objects to historical personalities who are still well known today. One of the most famous and legendary was undoubtedly Frederick Augustus I of Saxony, King of Poland and Elector of Saxony, known as "Augustus the Strong", from whose personal possession came a pair of important flintlock hunting pistols from 1730 (proceeds: 28,000 euros). Only a little later, around 1740-1750, the Bamberg court gunsmith Martin Dreyer made a flintlock hunting rifle, which King Frederick II of Prussia received as a gift from his favorite sister Wilhelmine of Prussia, Margravine of Brandenburg-Bayreuth (proceeds: 38,000 euros).

A museum-quality Thuringian wheellock rifle by Hans Heller from 1677 (proceeds: 21,000 euros), a Saxon wheellock buffer from the end of the 16th century (proceeds: 12,500 euros), and a German crossbow from the late Renaissance (proceeds: 14,000 euros) stand out due to particularly decorative, engraved biblical scenes and animal depictions.

Rarer types of weapons include a Bohemian flintlock shooting axe from the Baroque period (sold at 19,000 euros) or a four-barreled duckfoot flintlock pistol from the late 18th century by Henry Nock from London (sold at 6,000 euros).

Everyday culture, justice and jurisdiction in the early modern period are reflected in executioner's swords such as an example by the Solingen gunsmith Johannes Hoppe from the 17th century (proceeds 5,000 euros).

From the Middle Ages to the present day, helmets have served as personal protection, but also offered other possibilities for representation and decorative elements. A rare tournament helmet with curved bands in the visor dates from the middle of the 17th century (sold for 5,500 euros). In contrast to the simple "Pickelhaube" of the Wilhelmine imperial era, helmets of the small number of so-called "protection troops" in the German colonies are among the rarities of this era. This includes a model for use in German East Africa from the period 1891-1914 (sold for 2,500 euros).