Rare Unusual Hammer Double Rifle w/ a "Double" Martini Action by Miller & Val. Greiss

Hello All,

Although posted on another site, this one is so different that I thought to share it here also. I just acquired this Most Unusual Double Rifle at this past weekend's Rock Island Auction. This is absolutely the strangest double in my collection. Its maker is Miller and Val. Greiss, a well known German maker of some very fine and elaborate rifles and shotguns. I had never before seen a Martini style action with this type of external hammer, let-alone in a "double" Martini configuration with "double" external hammers - except, there was a similar rifle by the same maker, with the same provenance, and the same action, that appeared in Rock Island's Dec. 3, 2017 Auction. It sold for considerable more than this one, and I soon dropped out of the bidding. However, we had a blizzard here in the Central States and I think that cut-down on the auction bidders. Lucky for me because this time I was successful at about "half" the price of the one that sold last December.

Rifle's weight is 8-1/4 pounds with a LOP of 13-5/8". I'm guessing the short raised dovetail platform was for some type of early scope mounting. I'll be looking for one of those.

There are no markings on the rifle except as described in the Auction listing. I've shown them below.

Although the auction listed the caliber as 450 Short BPE, I could not find a cartridge with this name. However, a chamber cast matches "exactly" a cartridge that is called the "45 New South Wales." (dies from C-4 are already on the way) The chamber cast also showed 4-groove Henry Henry Rifling. In addition, the bores are absolutely MINT and Mirror bright. Cases for the 450 Short BPE are easily formed from 450-400 brass, shortened to 2.5" and opened-up to 45 caliber. The last picture shows the 450 Short BPE cartridge along-side a 45/70 cartridge for comparison. The 450 Short BPE case is actually much larger in diameter, and its longer. Its capacity is actually closer to that of a 45/120.

Note the tiny screw tucked under the cheek-piece. (see picture 9) I removed it, and found it did nothing. It simply pluged-into a neatly drilled hole. Could this be some kind of game counter?

The only markings: on the bottom of the right barrel are the last 4 digits of the serial number - and a number 7 on the bottom barrel rib. A "Crown V" appears on both barrels. The only place the full serial number appears is on the butt=plate.