James D. Julia

MAGNIFICENT LORENZONI SYSTEM FLINTLOCK REPEATING RIFLE BY SEBASTIAN HAUSCHKA PRESENTED TO KING LOUIS XV BEARING HIS PERSONAL CIPHER A CROWNED L IN GOLD AS WELL AS THE FRENCH ROYAL ARMS, NUMBER 464 FROM THE ROYAL CABINET D`ARMES, CIRCA 1735.Cal. .380 Groove diameter. 7 deep rounded grooves. This extraordinary rifle is of the very highest quality throughout, befitting a royal presentation piece and... More

MAGNIFICENT LORENZONI SYSTEM FLINTLOCK REPEATING RIFLE BY SEBASTIAN HAUSCHKA PRESENTED TO KING LOUIS XV BEARING HIS PERSONAL CIPHER A CROWNED L IN GOLD AS WELL AS THE FRENCH ROYAL ARMS, NUMBER 464 FROM THE ROYAL CABINET D`ARMES, CIRCA 1735.Cal. .380 Groove diameter. 7 deep rounded grooves. This extraordinary rifle is of the very highest quality throughout, befitting a royal presentation piece and is also an exceptional rarity being a repeating rifle built on the Lorenzoni/Berselli system with a rotating breech accessing separate ball and powder magazines contained in the butt and operated by a 2.75 inch silver lever on the left side. The action is manually operated as opposed to cocking with each action of the lever as on many Lorenzoni system long guns and pistols. The action is of fire gilded bronze. The 25.5 inch swamped, octagonal barrel is engraved “Sebastian Hauschka A Wolfenbuttel (1695-1775). One of the great masters of 18th century German gunmaking, Hauschka was appointed as maker to the Court of Prince and Duke August Wilhelm von Braunschweig-Wolfenbuttel. As a Court maker, Hauschka was required to make the most elaborate guns for presentation to foreign monarchs such as The Holy Roman Emperor, Charles VI, King Friedrich Wilhelm I of Prussia, Empress Maria Theresa of Austria ordered by the Prince of Salm, and the present rifle for King Louis XV of France. The flat lock of steel with separate priming magazine of fire gilded brass has a rebated tail and deeply moulded bevels. The cock is en suite with the lock and displays Hauschka`s characteristic artistry in steel carving. All furniture is of brilliantly fire gilded brass. Trigger guard is fluted at bow and spurred at wrist with decorative filed finials.The buttplate which offers access to the magazines has a broad tang with hinged receptacle and a spring loaded cover retained by a button catch. The inside of the lid is engraved “Hauschka Pinxit”, Latin for “Hauschka Painted This”, referring to the relief carved mother of pearl portrait of Louis XV which it once contained, now missing. All features and embellishments on King Louis XV`s rifle are of the highest order of gunmaking. The gold on the barrel is inlaid and engraved rather than damascened. The most important of these inlays is the personal insignia of the French King himself, consisting of mirror image “L`s” between an X and a V in an oval with crossed laurel leaves behind, surmounted by a Sovereign`s crown and all surmounted by a sun in splendor. Other gold inlays are of a helmeted warrior, doubtless Louis XV, with elaborate border over an oval cartouche with the Bourbon lilies, the three fleur de lis. The gilded action is finely engraved with acanthus at the breech end. A likeness of Louis XV in a tricorn hat flanked by two of his hunting dogs appears on the top of the action drum. The tang is engraved with a classical Romanesque laureled head. The rebated section of the lockplate is chiseled in low relief with scrolls and engraved with a stag. A grotesque face is engraved behind the cock. The buttplate is cast and chased in high relief, nearly in the round, and a Sovereign`s crown adorns the door of the magazine. The stock is of the finest, highly figured, stump walnut with exceptional quality relief carving of acanthus scrolls, dragon heads, and grotesques. The molded and sculpted borders extend along the sides of the toe which is incised with the inventory number of the French Royal Cabinet d`Armes “464.” The butt is adorned with incredibly engraved silver plaques featuring mythological beasts, Putti, and scrolling wire after designs in the pattern books of Jacquinet and DeLacollombe (1705) in the so-called Berain style as in the Le Conte gun made for Louis XIV and inlaid in silver by Jean Berain. The right side is inlaid with Putti and a griffon and the left a Putti over a Sovereign`s crown. The fore-end is of straight grain walnut, pinned to the barrel, relief carved and false ramrod held in by fire gilded brass thimbles. PROVENANCE: NOTES: The Cabinet d`Armes begun by King Louis XIII was the single most important collection of firearms ever assembled. The “cabinet d`armes” was set up in the Louvre Palace and first cataloged in 1673. A second inventory took place in 1717 and the third and final inventory began with the reign of Louis XVI and was completed in 1775. This must have included Louis XV`s Hauschka rifle, number 464. Whether one accepts the theory that the Cabinet was housed at the Bastille, the Louvre, or the Garde-Meuble Museum, the events of 1789 took their toll on the Royal Collection. In 1815 Paris was occupied by the English and German armies and according to the late, great firearms scholar, Dr. Leonid Tarassuk, “There is little doubt that during the occupation of Paris, British and probably Prussian military authorities selected and sent home as war trophies a number of weapons...” As the Louis XV Hauschka rifle came from Germany after WWII it seems likely that it was sent home by an official attached to the Prussian army after the fall of Napoleon. The damage may have occurred earlier as many Cabinet pieces bear various losses. A wheel lock, # 94 formerly in the Henk Visser Collection was badly damaged when found and was missing its entire barrel attachment. The magnificent wheel-lock, #29 formerly in the Joe Kindig Jr. Collection is missing its trigger-guard. The grand flintlock #134 by Pierre Le Bourgeios a Lisieux, regarded by Metropolitan Museum curator Randolph Bullock as “The most beautiful gun in the world” was finally acquired on behalf of the museum after a fifty year long pursuit, during the auction of the Collection of William Goodwin Renwick Jr. on November 20, 1972 by Frank Partridge for the sum of 125,000 British Pounds or 312,500 dollars. Any Cabinet d`Armes gun is the greatest firearms` treasure a collector or public institution can own, but to acquire the personal gun of one of France`s great kings is a once in a generation opportunity. The Louis XV gun is the first time in 41 years that one is offered at public auction. In 2013 dollars, the Metropolitan`s Louis XIII gun cost more than 1.7 million dollars. In June of 2009 letters from Louis XV were sold in Paris. Among them was a note from the King to his cousin, the Duc de Penthiver referring to an incident involving the King shooting his horse by accident. “The wild boar, which was very large, charged at me...My rifle misfired when I saw him and I didn`t have time to turn him aside...(the bullet) wounded my horse in the buttock.” King Louis may well have been carrying this very rifle on the infamous hunting trip. CONDITION: Untouched as found with mottled. brown oxidation on steel surfaces but no serious pitting. The bronze/brass mounts retain nearly all of their brilliant fire gilding with only minor high point wear on the edges. The stock is cracked through at the right side to the rear of the action, tang to lockplate, and from lock to trigger plate. There is some very minor loss of wood at top of lock. Despite these easily restored imperfections, the stock retains nearly all of its original oil finish though it is dry and exhibits minor marks and dents as well as spatters of white paint on the left side. There are three missing silver inlays and others are held in place by cellophane tape. There is a loss to a portion of the gilt brass sideplate. The fore end shows actual carrying wear, minor cracks 3 inches back from muzzle and a 2.5 inch by .25 inch sliver from barrel channel near muzzle at right. The screw in the trigger guard finial has been replaced with nylon to preserve the integrity of the stock. 4-47690 MRZ/MGM199<br><br>Starting Price: $75,000