Albrecht Pistol

[utseabee]

   I am looking for information on this pistol built by Albrecht. Looking for barrel dimensions, caliber ETC. Any information that you have would be greatly appreciated.

[blienemann]

This pistol was posted here about Jan 2018 by a gentleman from Germany who had acquired it there, dirty and uncovered the name with cleaning.  I don't know if someone here purchased the pistol?  I have not seen dimensions or detail posted to date.  Bob

[Shreckmeister]

I’ll see if I still have the owners email.

[Shreckmeister]

the owner's email is excelsior@gmx.de  It would be nice to bring this one to the USA.  I'm just not in a position to do it.

[Eric Kettenburg]

It's interesting but just to play devil's advocate, how do we know this is "the" Albrecht that we're thinking it is?

Just had to throw that out there.

[blienemann]

To Eric's point, in Moravian Gunmaking II we included a German pistol signed on the lock A ALBRECHT very neatly and boldly engraved.  We go on to say -

Der Neue Støeckel lists an Andreas Albrecht working at Hanau in Hessen-Nassau, Germany ca 1750, and states that he was the father of Julius Albrecht.  The same reference then lists Julius Albrecht, mentioned in 1755, who became a master and was the son of Andreas.  Hanau is a short distance east of Frankfurt, and would have been in west central Germany at that time, between Suhl and the Palatinate.  An Albrecht gunmaker is listed at Bayreuth ca 1740-60 in the same region.  Our Andreas Albrecht came from a large family – he might have been at Bayreuth, or perhaps these men were cousins or otherwise related.  Another dozen Albrechts worked at gunmaking in Germany and Switzerland from 1500 through 1850.  The Albrecht, Albright and Albert names all derive from the same root, and often appear as a first name as well as a family name. 

Bob

[Shreckmeister]

It's interesting but just to play devil's advocate, how do we know this is "the" Albrecht that we're thinking it is?

Just had to throw that out there.

We don't but it will be fun to investigate

[utseabee]

the owner's email is excelsior@gmx.de  It would be nice to bring this one to the USA.  I'm just not in a position to do it.

Thank You. I will try and reach out to him for some information. I am certainly not in the position to bring this one to PA right now, but that would be a prize. Besides being a fan of Albrecht's or other Moravian work, I like the looks of it. I'd like to build something that looks close to that one.

[spgordon]

If the “ALBRECHT” engraving on the barrel were not present, in roughly what time period would y’all place this pistol?

[utseabee]

If the “ALBRECHT” engraving on the barrel were not present, in roughly what time period would y’all place this pistol?

       I was able to contact the person who owned the pistols at the time of the original posting and he was kind enough to reply. I am not sure he owns it now, but he is going to look up the details on it over the weekend and let me know what he has. Here is was he did tell me in his response.
      "Back then I did a lot of research on the pistol and I am quite sure that it was made by Andreas Albrecht around Hanau around
1730-40."

      It will be interesting to see what else he has.

[mr. no gold]

My guess on the probable date of this gun would be around 1750-60, and some. However the engraved name on the barrel is amazingly close to the mark on the early signed Albrecht, Lancaster rifle and the known lock found in a barn. I see no reason why this pistol could not be a legitimate 'Andreas Albrecht' piece, and if he was making guns in the old country then the possibilty grows stronger.
It could have even been made over here and found its way back to Europe. Not likely, but we have some unusual facts here. Not as if we will ever know; but this one invites speculation.
Dick   

[Mike Brooks]

My guess on the probable date of this gun would be around 1750-60, and some. However the engraved name on the barrel is amazingly close to the mark on the early signed Albrecht, Lancaster rifle and the known lock found in a barn. I see no reason why this pistol could not be a legitimate 'Andreas Albrecht' piece, and if he was making guns in the old country then the possibilty grows stronger.
It could have even been made over here and found its way back to Europe. Not likely, but we have some unusual facts here. Not as if we will ever know; but this one invites speculation.
Dick

That is how I would date it as well.

[spgordon]

"The" Andreas Albrecht, who ended up in Bethlehem, was making arms in Germany by the late 1730s--and did so probably for about a decade (part of which involved work in the armed forces) until he moved to the Moravian settlement of Herrnhaag in 1748. Whether he worked as a gunsmith there is unknown, though he probably did as he was identified as a "rifle maker" when he immigrated to Bethlehem in 1750. If this looks like a pistol from the 1750s, it would be American made. It seems very likely, however, that Albrecht undertook very little made-to-order work during the 1750s: his work likely consisted mostly of repair work.

I've posted this link before but will take the liberty of re-posting here: https://www.immigrantentrepreneurship.org/entry.php?rec=263

[WESTbury]

I've read Scott's paper on Albrecht. It was very definitely worth the time invested to read it as was his paper The Ambitions of William Henry.

[Chowmi]

I've read Scott's paper on Albrecht. It was very definitely worth the time invested to read it as was his paper The Ambitions of William Henry.

Is the paper on Henry open source?  Could you post a link?

Thank you,
Apologies for off topic.

Norm

[spgordon]

Norm: I put it on Dropbox so you should be able to access it (open it and download) with this link:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/t4xfljhzdksulh6/Ambitions%20of%20William%20Henry.pdf?dl=0

[Chowmi]

Norm: I put it on Dropbox so you should be able to access it (open it and download) with this link:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/t4xfljhzdksulh6/Ambitions%20of%20William%20Henry.pdf?dl=0

Scott,
got it, thank you very much!

Norm