By Larry B. Schuknecht
Very little is known about this man and his business at this time (July 2023). What we do know comes from a few of his periodical advertisements and the Pape & Kellner Archive. He always uses the initial “W” instead of his first name. We can assume that he was born in the second half of the 1860’s and we know nothing about his personal life or his death at this time.
Several authorities consider him to be dealer only but the Pape & Kellner Archive lists him as a Büchsenmachermeister or Master Gun Maker. The earliest reference is an advertisent found in the 1891 Addressbuch Aller Länder Der Kaurleute Fabrkanten and gives his address as Königplatz 31. It lists hunting and target shooting guns as well as a full line of hunting equipment.
The next advertisements we have found come from the Nov. 1, 1894 Deutsche Jäger Zeitung and shows that he sold Teschner and Collath products.
The 1895 Deutsche Waffen Zeitung contained a listing for an application dated April 20th for a D.R.G.M. no. 40902 by Paul Tümena and W. Hamacher for a Water tight closure of a shotgun shell by means of an elastic, impermeable stopper which is crimped on the lower part.
On May 7, 1896 W. Hamacher was issued D.R.G.M. no. 61286 for a-
“Double lock mounted on a removable lock plate for three-barreled hammerless rifles with a stud arranged between the adjacent hammers and one in front and one behind. mainspring bearing directly on the cocks.” This lock mechanism which we will call the Hamacher Schloss will be shown in the first set of images, and shows that Hamacher was not only an inventor but also a skilled gun maker.
Next we have two advertisements from the June 15, 1908 Schuss und Waffe which shows us that he carried guns made by Behr Waffenwerke and Franz Jäger & Co.
The 1913 Büchsenmacher und Waffenhandler carried a notice that-
The company W. Hamacher, weapons and hunting equipment magazine, is now located at Graf Adolfstraße 106.
Now I will introduce a piece written by my good friend Fredrik Franzén of Sweden about a very high end Double Rifle Drilling sold by and possibly also made by W. Hamacher. The Double lock Mechanism was protected by D.R.G.M. # 61286 of May 17, 1896. (see the above notice of the D.R.G.M.) This article is excerpted from an article he wrote for and was published in Jakt & Jagare magazine in Jan./Feb. 2022 about Double Rifle Drillings. Click HERE to read the entire article.
Now we will view a few other examples of guns sold by W. Hamacher found on the internet. First we have a Combination gun sold in a Greg Martin Auction in 2005 for $908.00 in 45 Cal. & 16 Ga.
Secondly we have a Strassburgerverschloss Double Rifle in 9.3 X 74R possibly made by Gustav or Curt Kersten and sold by Widforss Auctions in Dec. 2013 serial no. 24586.
Thirdly we have a Drilling in 8 x 57R and 16 Ga. made by E. Schmidt & Habermann and sold by Hamacher. It was sold by Cabela’s on Guns Int.Com.
Last we have a Mauser mod 98 in 6.5 x 54 sold by Will Sullivan Auction Co. which is obviously restocked.
