1871 Cavalry Carbine marked to 13UR

cptbob

cptbob

Well-known member
This carbine was part of the initial run of 1871 cavalry carbines that were produced. It was made in 1876 and was manufactured on contract by the Austrian OEWG works. The work was contracted out because at the time all the German arms manufacturers were busy producing the Gewehr 71s for the Infantry and foot units. This initial batch of carbines went to all branches of the cavalry accept the kurassiers, who would not be authorized to carry carbines until later.

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This particular rifle is marked to the 13th Uhlan Regiment which makes it close to a Holy Grail for me. It was accepted into the Regiment in 1877 which means it would have been in the Regiment at the same time as this gentleman, Andrew Keune, my 2nd great grandfather. That photo was taken sometime between 1878 and 1883.
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The stock has been refinished and customized a little. The cartouches are barely visible. On one side there is a nice dragon design and on the other are some Asian characters. The designs are made by little nails, it was likely during this process that the stock got sanded. If anyone is able to read the characters, I would love to know what they say.
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Bob, the top three characters are not so difficult but I could not get the fourth (bottom) one. The top two say "Tianjin" or, in the old way "Tientsin", the third one is "Shun", meaning variously, "with/following/order/obey". I read mostly Japanese and these must be Chinese, so I could not ID the fourth one. In Japanese it is a combination of two radicals, the left side meaning "me/oneself" and the right side being an honorific. In Japanese this combination just doesn't exist. Perhaps Jupi could help, I think he has a very clear understanding of the organisation of Chinese Imperial forces?
Beautiful little carbine by the way, congratulations on a nice find..
Steve
 
seagull said:
Bob, the top three characters are not so difficult but I could not get the fourth (bottom) one. The top two say "Tianjin" or, in the old way "Tientsin", the third one is "Shun", meaning variously, "with/following/order/obey". I read mostly Japanese and these must be Chinese, so I could not ID the fourth one. In Japanese it is a combination of two radicals, the left side meaning "me/oneself" and the right side being an honorific. In Japanese this combination just doesn't exist. Perhaps Jupi could help, I think he has a very clear understanding of the organisation of Chinese Imperial forces?
Beautiful little carbine by the way, congratulations on a nice find..
Steve
Click to expand...
Thanks Steve!
 
Glad to help Bob, nice to able to contribute even a partial answer instead of just my usual dumb questions HA!:ROFLMAO:
 
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