Real sign your a collector- you buy a book on Zella Mehlis in German

[45flint]

Read elsewhere that prewar much of the town was involved in the making of guns. They had a lot of small shops that supplied various types rifles to retail shops across Germany. Here is a quote on “garden” guns:

“The Gartenflinten (garden guns) were used to shoot small birds, rats, rabbits and varmints around the house. These were made for the trade in countless variations by a “cottage industry” centered on Zella-Mehlis, the rivaling gunmaking center only about 5 miles from Suhl.”

Some shops were high end hunting guns.