By Larry B. Schuknecht
The pape and Kellner archive states that the Girku Gun Making firm was founded by Heinrich Girku. Most references cite Eduard Girku as the gun maker but perhaps His father who may have been Heinrich was also a gun maker. The Fahresbericht über die Landwirthschasts=und Gewerbsschule zu Kaufbeuren of 1850 & 1851 lists Eduard Girku as a Büchsenmacherlehrling (Gun Makers Apprentice) and his brother Ignaz Girku as a Büchsenmachergeselle (Journeyman Gun Maker) which implies that Ignaz is the older of the two. Eduard went into business by himself in about 1855.
In the April 28, 1872 edition of the Memminger Zeitung we found an advertisement for Eduard Girku with a additional statement about his brother Ignaz and soliciting work from the citizens of Memminger, which Google translated reads-
“At the same time, I would like to take this opportunity to announce that my brother Ignaz Irku, who ran his own business in Memmingen for a number of years, has left there; should I have a claim to make of the same, I kindly request that you contact me as of this writing.”
In the 1883 Waffenschmied-Munich we find the following advertisment.
The Nov. 29, 1895 Illustrirte Bayerische Schützen Zeitung contains an article about Eduard Girku, the Ehren Schützenmeister of Kaufbeuren which includes his portrait.
Eduard specialized in Target firearms but also sold sporting firearms of all types. Many of these were probably sourced from the larger makers in Suhl and Zella St. Blasii and Mehlis and finished to his customers wishes. Following are images of some of his products. First we have two side by side shotguns.
The Pape and Kellner Archive states that the firm became E. Girku & Sohn around 1900 and was still in business in 1910.
Next we have a Martini Schuetzen Rifle possibly sourced from Kessler, which was sold by and courtesy of Rock Island Auctions on Dec. 7, 2019 as Lot # 1400.
