[Sticky] Origin of Gems

Origin of Gems

There was an interesting thread on this on the airgunbbs.com, started by DCL_Dave, the Gem expert. He said:

Who made a Gem pattern air gun?...

The general line is that "everyone and their uncle made a Gem pattern"...but, when you look into it, it just doesn't quite pan out that way...so who did manufacture a Gem pattern air gun?...

Haviland and Gunn
Quackenbush
Eisenwerke Gaggenau
Langanhan - father and son Friedrich =LZ, and Fritz =FLZ
Jean Marck
Diana / MGR
Frederick Cox [Britannia]
Ocsar Will
...and a much later Spanish Komet?

Anyone else I've forgotten or didn't know about?...

A somewhat bold statement it may be but here goes...I think most* of the European Gem patterns were made by one of three manufacturers - Eisenwerk Gaggenau, Langanhan or Jean Marck.

I seem to remember some Bergman marked Gem patterns too (were these likely to have been made by EG though?)

....and the mysterious Harpoon trademark...was that something to do with Bergman too?

MGR/Diana Gems bare an uncanny resemblance to LZ/FLZ Gems...both Diana 3L types (T-bar and dolls head) and Diana 6 share so many similarities with the Langanhan Gem patterns in there overall shape and design...

Sorry, my knowledge on this subject is so random and scattered that it is difficult to make sense of it, I rarely write anything down always relying on my memory...and have forgotten lots in the few short years I have been away...I wonder if this info is still relevant?

One erudite reply was from John G, who pointed out KB in Paris had a range of Gem-like guns. He said:

The company K.B Paris had a range of Gem type airguns around 1900. I am pretty sure that they made these themselves, as all their other guns (air pistols and toy guns) were made by them, and in fact it is stated that their specific intent was to provide a domestic range of airguns to compete with foreign imports...

They certainly did make a range of their own air rifles and pistols, but I can't be sure that the Gem types they sold weren't German or Belgian imports, as (as far as I know) no examples have ever turned up. Mind you, they were not great exporters so all their guns are very rare, and only likely to be found in France. According to their catalogue description, if they did turn up they might have been marked "La Guillaume Tell" or even more confusingly just "Tell".

 

Another catalogue picture of one of their pistols shows it to be very similar to, but not identical with, the Jean Marck Gem air pistol. One of these has never been found, but I live in hopes.

 

Also, Frank Korn said:

There are a few German sites about Eisenwerke Gaggenau and it is interesting to notice the change in the name of the factory:

1873 Michael Flürscheim und Franz Korwan kaufen am 1. Februar das Eisenwerk von Ludwig Klehe

Firmenname: „Korwan und Flürscheim Eisenwerke Gaggenau bei Rastatt“ (vormals Louis Görger)

Do you remember where the Diana (Mayer und Grammelspacher) factory was located? in Rastatt!
It seems very likely MGR bought the forged/cast parts from EG in rough form to create their own GEM?
A few years later the EG factory got a new name:

1880 Theodor Bergmann, ein Herdfabrikant aus Konstanz, tritt in die Firma ein.

Emailierwerk, Stanzerei, Vernickelungsanstalt, Buchdruckerei, Schreinerei und Kunstgießerei werden eingerichtet. Neues Produkt: Badenia-Fahrräder

150 Mitarbeiter

1884 Bergmann wird Teilhaber. Firmenname: „Eisenwerke Gaggenau, Flürscheim und Bergmann“

So there is the connection with the Bergmann marked GEM's.

The Jean Marck GEM's are different in construction and (in my opinion) made by a Belgium? factory.