427 - An interesting 1854/I model Lorenz infantry percussion rifle with bayonet

An interesting 1854/I model Lorenz infantry percussion rifle with bayonet dating: about 1860 provenance: Austria, Round, rifled barrel (clean bore, visible rifling), with an octagonal breech, marked “T.H. ROTTHALER” on the back (only partially visible), “W”, and various other stamps, including the imperial double-headed eagle. Fitted with a front sight and fixed rear sight. Calibre approximately 13.9 mm at the nozzle. Forward spring percussion lock dated “859” (for 1859) and bearing a clearly stamped imperial mark; surface pitting, working mechanism. Full wooden stock with defects, signs of use and age, and some woodworm holes, partly filled, particularly at the base of the buttstock and along approximately the last 50 cm of the fore-end (where some repairs may also be present). Remains of an illegible circular stamp on the buttstock. Iron mounts with surface pitting. Interesting ramrod, bearing the same issue number as the rifle. Complete with a bayonet bearing stamps and numbers on the socket (length 55.7 cm), differing from those on the firearm. The regimental issue number probably indicates the 37th Infantry Regiment, 15th Company, 111th man. In 1859, the Austrian 37th Infantry Regiment bore the designation Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 37 «Erzherzog Joseph», or Archduke Joseph’s Regiment. The Austrian Kriegsarchiv preserves documentation relating to the 37th Regiment concerning the Battles of Magenta (4 June 1859) and Solferino (24 June 1859), during the Second Italian War of Independence.