"I.HAAS.NEUSTATD.B.OLMUTZ" silver inlaid on the top barrel flat at the breech with silver inlaid designs and a sunken rectangle with a deer. No information was found related to this maker at the current time, but the marking indicates they were active out of Olomouc ("Olmutz") in what is modern day Czech Republic. This high quality 18th century air rifle shares strong resemblance to a muzzleloading flintlock rifle of the time, although the "cock" instead only functions as a cocking lever and it uses a detachable walnut wrapped buttstock air reservoir. Air guns of this style were used primarily for hunting. "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 like the flintlocks that this example shares resemblance to. Features a 7-groove rifled octagon barrel that measures approximately .50 caliber/12.7 mm with a removable screw-in smoothbore barrel insert that measures approximately .34 caliber/8.5 mm, brass blade front sight, brass fixed and folding notch rear sight, flat beveled iron lock, and high quality floral relief carvings along the edges and bottom of the stock, around the wrist and on the left of the buttstock. Circular brass collection tag marked "R.D. BEEMAN/PRIVATE/COLLECTION/495" hanging from the trigger guard. An embellished air gun of this style would have been an advanced hunting weapon of the time, fit for an individual of high status. Provenance: The Dr. Robert D. Beeman Collection