Hi Mike,

They are already looking through the records at Hollands and hopefully, I'll find out something soon. I'm curious if this rifle was made to the Prince's specifications or whether more than one was made. He was a regular customer of Holland & Holland's and there are testimonials in the 1890 catalog from him. Maybe this was something experimental that they asked him to try out. Who knows... Regarding the history, I found a book that was published recently that has a lot of photos from the first India trip along with many others but it's written in German so I can't decipher too much. I can take photos using my phone and then translate using an app that I have but it does a pretty poor job and leaves a lot of the words untranslated. Eventually, I'll have to find someone fluent in both languages to do a proper translation. There is a written section about the 1890-91 trip but no photos. I'll bet that the Esterhazy archives has photos from that second trip to India as well. I'll add information to this thread as it's uncovered since there seems to be a fair amount of interest in it. So far, I have found over 300 newspaper articles that mention "Prince Louis Esterhazy" but the vast majority have to do with leaving for Vienna, returning from Vienna, dining with the Prince and Princess of Wales, attending weddings, balls, horse racing events, horse auctions, and participating in live pigeon shoots. Nothing regarding that second trip to India in the newspapers so far except for one that mentions that he was leaving for Vienna on his way to India. I'm really hoping to find a photo of him holding this rifle. I always hope to find a period photo of the rifle with the original owner but so far I have never found a photo like that for any of mine. If someone out there has his 8-bore, I can help in this respect since there is a photo in the book that I described with Prince Esterhazy holding the rifle and standing behind a tiger. There is also another photo where he is holding what looks to be a 500 express or similar--also a Holland & Holland.

Regard,

Jim