Brunhilda the Valkyrie Shooting Gallery Target

Brunhilda the Valkyrie Shooting Gallery Target
W. Wurfflein Company Philadelphia - Late 1890's - 70" Tall Provenance: Hillary Underwood Collection Bill & Wendy Jones Collection Extraordinary Pristine The Wurfflein family surname was a very important gun-making name in Philadelphia. Andrew Wurfflein became famous for his precision single shot rifles as early as the 1840's. His son William founded the W. Wurfflein Gun Company in 1874 and it remained in active business until 1910. His specialty was percussion derringers and double barrel shotguns. In the late 1890's, as an adjunct to the gun business, William Wurfflein began to produce a small line of exceptional quality shooting gallery targets, typically made of cast iron and wood. The valkyrie imagery used in this target derives from Norse mythology, which was made wildly popular by Wagner's set of operas known as The Ring Cycle. Brunhilda, who has often been cited as the "paramount figure of Germanic legend" is here depicted as a shield-bearing maiden, like a powerful Amazon Queen. Other discernible fashion attributes associated