"-STIRB'A-" surrounded by an oval silver inlaid on top of the barrel flat at the breech, "in Wien" marked on the lock. No information found at the current time related to this maker. "Wind guns" had several advantages over conventional firearms including that they were quieter, smokeless, quicker to reload, and relatively unaffected by rain. They also required less cleaning since they did not require corrosive black powder. This attractive tip-up barrel example is chambered in approximately .50 caliber/12.7 mm and features an octagon barrel with a smooth bore, German silver bead front sight, hardwood stock, a metal stock air reservoir, and high quality engraving including a scene of a dog on the left sideplate, floral and border pattern engraving on most of the components besides the barrel and buttstock reservoir, and hammer with a dragon head. The breech loading tip-up barrel has a release on bottom ahead of the trigger guard. Circular brass collection tag marked "R.D. BEEMAN/PRIVATE/COLLECTION/2918" hanging from the trigger guard. Provenance: The Dr. Robert D. Beeman Collection