Final proof in Praha but sourced in the white from Suhl or in a later state(note "Crown" over "U", encircled 12 & 118/35 pre-rifled bore diameter stamp). I don't know what mark(s) would lead one to think Westley Richards unless it was somehow the trademark Crowned JN(script). It was sourced in the white sometime prior to 1907 and I think Franz Jaeger's ejector patent to date around that, maybe earlier in 1905 but let me check. At some point it looks like it returned to Germany, or maybe the client was there, for the post 1912 Suhl Nitro proof. Maybe the Nitro proof was a condition of the sale.

I'm pretty sure I lifted these listing, possibly 1930s, of the Berlin firearm merchant contingent from a post by Martin Krause in 2006. Any of the listed concerns could have taken J. Novonty's order but I hedge my bets with Ludwig Schiwy & F.W. Vandrey & Company.

I'm not sure when Ludwig Schiwy acquired the (Fa.)F.W. Vandrey & Company, which may have had it's roots in Hamburg:

There are a couple examples of sporting arms with the name F.W. Vandrey & Company along side J. Novotny of Praha, so there was some type of business relationship there. My best guess is that J. Novotny of Praha placed an order with the F.W. Vandrey & Company firm, which Ludwig Schiwy may have owned at the time, and then the F.W. Vandrey & Company firm sourced a Suhl concern for the longarm. Some sources give that Ludwig Schiwy was born in the 1880s and if the early 1880s he could have hung out his shingle after obtaining his master's sheepskin at the time of this sporting weapon and acquired the F.W. Vandrey firm and established the main office, or the satellite office, in Berlin, where he was a member of the elite Diana hunting club of Berlin, which might account for his upper rung clients along with Hermann Goering. Several of Ludwig Schiwy examples have the Franz Jaeger ejector type and I would guess there was a close working relationship there. Also the muzzleshell type side frame reinforcement seems to have originated in Suhl. The period between WWI & WWII looks to be the pinnacle of the F.W. Vandrey & Company & Ludwig Schiwy's efforts. It appears he expired in the 1950s.

Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse