Falke Modell-33

Falke Modell-33 Air Pistol - Boxed.

A nice boxed example of a Falke 33 here. The pistol is in near mint condition and appears to have had little use.

Falke has gone to considerable effort to present the pistol as an item of luxury.
The box itself is covered with wine-coloured, very finely-textured paper with a semi-gloss finish and writing in gold.

The inner plinth, with cut-out to grip the pistol, is coated with a thick, textured gold paper. A loose inner tray
presumably held a starter pack of pellets or darts (the barrel is beautifully rifled so perhaps pellets is
the more likely).

The inside of the lid is covered with a smooth, shiny gold paper.

The plinth is designed in such a way that the edges of the cutout at its narrowest points were bound to wear
and break within only a few cycles of removing and replacing the pistol.

It's hard to see how this could have been avoided, given the sharp edges of the front and rear sights.
So you have to conclude that the box was for presentation only and had little value as a storage container.
This probably explains why so few of these boxes turn up, relative to the fairly large number of pistols that survive.

One unusual feature of this pistol is the narrowness of the shallow grooves on each side of the one-piece stock. They are
usually somewhat wider and more rounded.

Falke Modell-33 Air Pistol - Boxed.

This example shows a now familiar box but its completeness is interesting - with both small gold (pellet, dart?) boxes inside a larger box in the inner tray present. With many thanks to John for these pics.

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Falke-branded EM-GE Zenit M copy and Falke Modell-33 Air Pistol

Here is a second example of the pistol pictured here:

https://forum.vintageairgunsgallery.com/falke-airguns/falke-airguns-miscellaneous/#post-2558

- a possible forerunner of the Falke 33. It is almost identical to a prewar EM-GE Zenit M repeater, apart from the end cap, stock and markings, and was presumably put together using Zenit parts.

Zenit M:

https://forum.vintageairgunsgallery.com/em-ge/em-ge-zenit-m-repeater-air-pistol/#post-1604

This pistol was mentioned in the Encyclopedia of Spring Air Pistols, pub. 2009, by John Griffiths. See here:

https://forum.vintageairgunsgallery.com/fake-resources/falke-33-encyclopedia-of-spring-pistols-entry/

Here it is shown alongside a model 33 to show the similarities and differences.

Falke Modell-33 Air Pistol.

Falke Modell-33 Air Pistol - Boxes.

With thanks to Robin.

Two patterns of Falke 33 box. The one pictured first looks somewhat more cheaply made than the one pictured second and third. Could this reflect cost-cutting in the latter stages of the Falke company's brief lifetime? Or was it homemade by a proud owner?

Falke Modell-33 (homemade walnut grips) 

This pistol appears in a YouTube video by a NZ collector. It appears to have walnut grips with no decals and different chequering from the usual impressed pattern. Almost certainly aftermarket.

John Griffiths, author of The Encyclopedia of Spring Air Pistols, said of this pistol: 

It looks like a perfectly normal model except for the grip. To me this very much looks like a new addition.  The surface condition is better than one would expect on a gun that has obviously had a lot of use, and the checkering is amateur (note the over-runs in the border grooves, a difficult thing for the amateur to avoid, as I well know from bitter experience).

Falke Modell-33 (walnut factory grip) 

With impressed chequering. The walnut grip was a factory option at 3DM extra.