Welcome to today’s photo of the day! Here we have an elaborately decorated Bavarian swivel breech percussion Fowler from the early to mid 1800s, marked “Johann Arnedt” and “A. Wirzburg” with silver inlay in the breech.
This is a very nice looking gun. The lock plate, hammer, barrel tang, trigger guard and buttplate all have relief-engraved floral scrollwork with grotesque heads and birds. The pierced sideplate matches the same motif. The stock itself is then covered with incised and raised carvings, and running along the lower contour of the cheekpiece is a carved dragon with the initials “FS” on its belly, either the carver signing his work or the owner marking his property.
The swivel breech allows the shooter to rotate between the two barrel sets, a standard feature on European hunting guns of this type. .62 gauge, 29 inch flat-top barrel.
All that engraving, silver inlay and hand carving represents an enormous amount of labor. It was made for someone with money, possibly a nobleman or wealthy patron who wanted a functional hunting gun that looked as if it belonged in a display case. Bavarian gunmakers of the time were actually adept at producing both at the same time.
Most of our POTDs use images of our friends Rock Island Auction CompanyMajor firearms auction in the United States. Take some time to browse them current auction – Who knows, maybe you’ll find a piece of history to take home!
“Relief engraved and silver inlaid Bavarian swivel breech percussion with Fowler carved stock.” Rock Island Auction, www.rockislandauction.com/detail/5032/104/engravedinlaid-bavarian-rotating-superposed-percussion-fowler. Accessed 28 May 2026.
