I'm pretty confident that this clamshell was sourced from E.(Erdmann) Schmidt and (Eduard??) Habermann, who founded their business in 1860. To the best of my knowledge Erdmann Schmidt was a businessman and Eduard?? Habermann was a gunsmith with a emphasis in stocking. By the time this example was made Franz & Paul Stadelmann were the owners. I'm not exactly sure of the model number but the clamshell DR with an A&D system is a Model 555 and it has similar arcaded fences. I know that E. Schmidt and Habermann manufactured a blitz action as there is a pic of an 8x57JRS in a catalogue reprint available from GGCA( www.germanguns.com ) and it is the Suhl side panels that point to its source. E. Schmidt and Habermann were known to make examples for many retailers and either they sourced the clamshell frames from Bernhard Merkel, who in turn sourced them from Sauer or E. Schmidt and Habermann sourced Sauer directly. I think it can be correctly stated that most, if not all, of the Berlin makers who offered clamshells sourced Bernhard Merkel or one of the Merkel boys. The craftsmen of Suhl/Zella-Mehlis were on par, or above, any makers in the world and economics was the driving factor. They could make the best or they could make price-point arms. I'm not positive on the "DH" but I would venture a guess that Eduard Habermann had heirs and assigns and one was named Daniel; therefore, if a Daniel Habermann did exist, then he fitted the tubes to the action. The addressing of the top of the Krupp tubes looks much older than 1912-1915 and the Krupp stamp also looks to be an earlier version. If you ever have it apart I hope there are additional stamps on the frame to substantiate my hypothesis.

Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse