April 11-13, 2023 Firearms and Militaria
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 4/11/2023
Exceptionally attractive double rifle drilling manufactured by Franz Kettner of Germany. Configured with top left 16 bore barrel, right and bottom 8x57 rifled barrels. Right barrel is stamped "FRANZ KETTNER" and left barrel stamped "KOLN - SUHL" over the top, with German World War II era "(Eagle) / N" commercial nitro proofs present on the underside along with stampings stipulating the caliber designations, as well as the proof date of September 1942. Action exhibits matching "(Eagle) / N" commercial nitro proofs, followed by a tastefully applied Simpson LTD. import stamp on the water table. Sights are comprised of a "U" notch rear sight, with a nitre blued beaded blade front sight. Action features a Greener pattern side safety, with the top tag featuring a rifle/shotgun selector. Barrels are embellished at the breeches with acorn and oak leaf engraving on a finely stippled background. The silver gray toned action features magnificent full coverage relief engraving, exhibiting acorn and oak leaf engraving overall, with the left side exhibiting a scene of a dog chasing 3 roe deer, and with the right a scene featuring a downed stag aside an alerted stag and 4 hinds. Left side of action bar exhibits a small scene of a hare, with the right a scene of a goose. Underside of action shows 3 small partridge. The finely figured European walnut pistol grip buttstock features a shadow line right hand cheekpiece, horn basketweave pattern buttplate, an inlet diamond shaped horn drop point on either side of the wrist, as well as a gold inlaid "FK" monogram on the grip cap. Trigger guard is comprised of horn. Forend is finely checkered and features en suite albeit lighter engraving to the action. Underside of barrels feature soldered sling loops, with a matching sling swivel present on the underside of the buttstock. Drilling is accompanied by its original and matching Carl Zeiss Zielvier scope. Unfortunately, the barrel set that this scope would have mounted onto is not present due to import/export laws. All numbers are matching and include the action, barrel, forend, as well as the scope. CONDITION: Very fine, with the barrel retaining bountiful amounts of what appears to be their original factory blue finish, exhibiting a few spots of very modest wear at the muzzles, as well as some very light superficial marks from handling and storage. Barrel rib exhibits a ding on the left side towards the muzzle that has been touched up, with rib soldering possibly needing gunsmith attention. Excellent mirror bores, with rifled bores retaining well defined lands and grooves throughout. Stocks retain the vast majority of their oil finish and exhibit numerous light marks and minor impressions from storage and handling. Forend exhibits a crack that is visible on both the interior and exterior, that does not appear to effect serviceability. Scope is optically fine, retaining a clear and sharp picture. An exceedingly attractive, early 1940s production, German drilling.
Caliber/Bore
16 Bore / 8x57mm JRS
Manufacturer
Franz Kettner