http://www.bonhams.com/eur/auction/16758/lot/139/

After some thought in being somewhat removed from my notes, I think Ludwig Schiwy was born circa 1880 and expired in the late 1950s. It appears that there was a strong sourcing relationship between the F.W. Vandrey & Company Hamburg & J. Novotny of Praze early on predating Ludwig Schiwy's acquisition of the firm. Also it appears there are several F.W. Vandrey & Company examples that wear the tradename Herold; therefore, a strong working relationship existed between the F.W. Vandrey & Company and Franz E. Jäger. This would go a long way in explaining the Franz E. Jäger type ejectors found on F.W. Vandrey & Company sporting arms. So for arguments sake let's say Ludwig Schiwy was born in 1880 then it is possible by 1903 or 1904 he could have attained the rank of meister büchsenmacher and would have hung out his shingle at that point. At approximately the same time he could have acquired the F.W. Vandrey & Company concern and added the Berlin address to the F.W. Vandrey & Company Hamburg firm. There were pretty much 2 avenues in the sporting weapons realm: firearms merchant or the best of the best gunsmith with little recognition with the exception of those small marks found on the sporting weapons. The Suhl/Zella-Mehlis area had a small pool of the very best of the best mechanics and the rest of Europe sourced them for components as well as finished sporting weapons.

As a postscript, Ludwig Schiwy was reduced to an airgun retailer post WWII till the time of his demise. Quite a stoop from outfitting Hermann Göring to peddling airguns.

Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse