Product Details
C. WERTGARNER IN ENNS
A PAIR OF 16-BORE SIDELOCK EJECTORS, serial no. 4375.10 / 4392.10,
for 1910, 29 1/2in. nitro reproved barrels (repairs at breech) with radial-cut ribs engraved 'C. WERTGARNER IN ENNS', gold-inlaid with ornate '1' and '2' on stippled matt backgrounds at the breech ends, 2 3/4in. chambers, bored approx. 1/2 and full choke (No.1) and full choke in both (No.2), treble-grip actions with carved serpentine fences, toplevers gold-inlaid with an intertwined 'EA' monograms surmounted by a Herzogskrone, automatic safeties with gold-inlaid 'SICHER' details and '1' and '2', gold-inlaid cocking-indicators with arrow detailing, fine border and partial acanthus scroll engraving with floral bouquets, the makers name engraved within scrolling banners, retaining some original colour-hardening and finish, 14 1/4in. figured pistolgrip stocks, including buttplates, with cheekpieces, the heels inlaid with escutcheons engraved '11' and '12', weight 6lb. 9oz. (No.1) 6lb. 10oz. (No.2), in a brass-cornered oak and leather double guncase
Provenance: Previous research would indicate that this pair of guns were formerly the property of Ernest Augustus (1887 - 1953), the last Duke of Brunswick, and were presented to Colonel Paul McConnell at the end of the Second World War.
Ernest was the sixth (and youngest) child of Ernest Augustus, Crown Prince of Hanover, 3rd Duke of Cumberland and Teviotdale and his wife, Princess Thyra of Denmark. His great-grandfather (also Ernest Augustus) was the fifth son of King George III of the United Kingdom.
His father succeeded as pretender to the Hanoverian throne and as Duke of Cumberland and Teviotdale in the peerage of Great Britain in 1878. The younger Ernest Augustus became heir apparent to the dukedom of Cumberland and to the Hanoverian claim upon the deaths of his two elder brothers, George and Christian.
When Ernest Augustus's older brother George died in an automobile accident on 20th May 1912, the German Emperor, Wilhelm II, sent a message of condolence to the Duke of Cumberland. In response to this friendly gesture, the Duke sent his only surviving son, Ernest Augustus, to Berlin to thank the Emperor for his message. Ernest Augustus and Wilhelm II were third cousins through George III of the United Kingdom. In Berlin, Ernest Augustus met and fell in love with the emperor's only daughter, Princess Victoria Louise of Prussia, and they married in May 1913. The wedding was the last great gathering of European sovereigns before the outbreak of the First World War. In November of that year, Ernest Augustus became the reigning Duke of Brunswick.
Following the war and subsequent German revolution of 1918 - 1919, Ernest Augustus was forced to abdicate his throne. For the next thirty years, he remained as head of the House of Hanover, living in retirement on his various estates, mainly Blankenburg Castle in Germany and Cumberland Castle in Gmunden, Austria. He also owned Marienburg Castle near Hanover, although rarely ever living there until 1945.
By the time the Second World War ended in Europe in April 1945, he and his family were staying at Blankenburg. A few days before Blankenburg was handed over to the Red Army by British and U.S. forces in late 1945, to become part of East Germany, the family was able to move to Marienburg Castle, at the time located in the British Occupation Zone, with all their furniture, transported by British Army trucks, on the order of King George VI.
These guns were presented to Colonel Paul McConnell of the Cheshire Regiment, as a show of gratitude for assisting in the rescue of the Duke and his family from the clutches of the Russians
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Estimate £7,000-9,000
S2 - Sold as a Section 2 Firearm under the 1968 Firearms Act