Kiwi bloke:
I'm fairly confident that the "S" in a lozenge is the mark of Gotthard Schilling's forge. All 3 tubes were fabed at his facility. I'll have to check to see what years Sylvestr Schilling was active, but the "SS" would also be for one of the Schillings. I too have a nifty Ernst Steigleder 16 bore hammer double that has a Berlin as well as Suhl atop the tubes. There was a very close connection between Ernst Steigleder and I think his Suhl shop was just for sourcing. I don't remember how close it was to the Sauer facility. But my hat's off to ole Ernst Steigleder didn't pursue a Hofbüchsenmahcer title and marketed solely on his name. Ernst Steigleder sourced tubes and components from Sauer and if there isn't a "caveman" with a "staff" stamp present on an example, I have serious reservations about any component or example being sourced from Sauer. But there exist the possibility that components may just wear the "SuS". The "Crown" over "G" just notes they pushed a solid projectile down the tube.

Sort of perplexed on the "chicken" and the "egg" saga here. But my 1st guess would be that Meffert was sourced or made guns for the trade. Well, that would mean that Schilling either sourced Meffert for an example in the white or for the components. The other possibility is that Meffert subed some of the work to the Schillings. Gotthard Schilling's forge was in Suhl and Meffert was in Suhl. But there was another family of Schillings in/around Zella-Mehlis and I'm sure they were related. Hard to say for now but what is known is that the whole area of Suhl-Zella-Mehlis was one big gunshop with craftsmen on par with any. The serial number might fall in Meffert's range.

Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse