hey guys thanks for tuning in to another
video on Forgotten weapons comm I'm Ian
McCallum and I'm here today at the James
Giulia auction helps up in Maine taking
a look at some of the guns that they're
going to be selling in their upcoming
spring of 2018 firearms auction now
there are engraved guns and there are
engraved guns and this is one of the
latter this is actually a firearm from
the royal collection of King Louis the
15th of France and it is tremendously
magnificent so without any further ado
I'm going to go straight to some
close-ups of this so that you can see
just the immaculate work on this gun
because you can't see it from back there
this isn't just any rifle either this is
actually a Lorenz Oni pattern repeating
firearm so normally you would see an
opening here in the top and normally you
would have an opening for the magazine
here on the side if you're not familiar
with the Lorenz Oni system definitely
check out some of my other videos on
those rifles there will be links to
those at the end of this video
but what we have here is a rotating
breech lever that allows you to reload
the action this is approximately a 38
caliber rifle and you can see from the
muzzle that it is in fact rifled the
magazine access is not in fact anywhere
on the side of the action instead you
get to that through the butt plate there
is a trapdoor on the butt plate and a
little button right here when I push
that it opens up and that is where you
would put the projectiles and that is a
little tube for powder it would funnel
into the action I believe there used to
be a cover plate for the powder which
has since broken and you can see there's
a little tab there that prevents the
round balls from falling back out the
decoration on this I really can't
overstate the stock has a bunch of
silver inlay in it it's really rather
impossible to overstate the the artistic
effort put into this rifle on the back
end of the stock we have primarily
silver inlay as well as some really deep
engraving in the wood
self there's a little bit of a hidden
surprise up here on the top of the stock
we have crown here and if we push this
button back underneath is a portrait of
Louis the 15th more silver inlay on the
opposite side what would be called a
grotesque face inlaid into or carved
into the stock here on the back of the
wrist and just look at the detail of
that engraving that is another portrait
of Louis three fleur-de-lis of the House
of Bourbon and royal crest this rifle
was manufactured by a German gunsmith
and presented by German nobility to King
Louie and it's engraved here with the
name of the manufacturer sebastian
Hauschka of wolfenbüttel
and the barrel itself is just this
magnificent Damascus it's a silver front
sight blade
some additional decorative elements on
the bottom of the stock as well not to
mention oh just that on the bottom of
the trigger guard now there was only one
other marking on this rifle and it's
that number four six four right there
that was the inventory number of the
French royal cabinet disarmed the the
arms collection and there were three
main inventories done of this firearms
collection which began in the late 1600s
this rifle was present in the 1775
inventory which took place just after
Louis the 15th had died now in 1789 the
French Revolution broke out and a lot of
this collection was dispersed obviously
there was quite a bit of chaos and a lot
of looting of the Royal various royal
collections so many of the wealth some
of the rifles from this collection have
turned up across Europe this particular
one has a really fantastic backstory I
think this actually came out of the
estate of an American officer who had
been stationed in Europe at the end of
World War two and he actually recognized
well he he noticed the elaborately
decorated stock of this rifle in a pile
of like a hundred and fifty captured
guns or turned in guns that were to be
destroyed and he pulled it out of the
pile and took it home himself
recognizing that it was not your average
run-of-the-mill 22 or shotgun and so it
actually stayed in his family until now
so about seventy-five years when they
decided to put it up for auction now
when it came back from Europe
it wasn't quite in this this nice of a
condition it did need some restoring
there was a crack in the stock some of
the silver inlay had come loose and it
was expertly restored in fact julia has
pictures of it
pre and post restoration but in its
current guise as it has been restored to
original it is an incredibly magnificent
piece of work guns like this are rarely
seen seen outside of museums and very
rarely up for private sale so it's
really been a a treat to get to look at
something like this up close without
having to see it through glass and if
you're the sort of person who has the
resources to add a royal firearm to your
own personal collection well this sort
of opportunity does not come up very
often take a look at the description
text below you'll find there a link to
the Julia catalog page on this rifle
that includes their pictures their
provenance their value estimates
everything else you would need to know
to place a bid on the rifle although I
would think if you are considering
buying this you would probably come to
the auction house in person to examinate
yourself and participate live in the
auction thanks for watching