For centuries, trophy hunting was exclusively practiced by European royalty as a sport. The largest known private collection of Imperial German hunting trophies from the late 19th century is now available for purchase. It consists of around 430 mounts from royal families like the Hapsburgs and Hohenzollerns that were meticulously curated over 40 years by an anonymous collector. The collection provides insights into the royal passion for hunting and showcasing their skills and leisure time.

1. F
or centuries
in Europe,
trophy hunting
was the exclusive
domain of royalty.
The sport of kings (and
kaisers), the taking of large animals in the
wild and mounting their horns and
heads on the walls of royal hunting
lodges was de rigueur. No royals were
more passionate about hunting than Kaiser
Wilhelm II of Germany and Emperor Franz
Josef of Austria, whose extraordinary personal
trophies are available for purchase in Dallas at
Pettigrew — inside a large, locked room.
The Royal Hunt Collection is the largest known
collection of Imperial German hunting trophies
in private hands outside of Europe. It has been
organized and marketed by Houston’s Suzanne
Coppola of Laurier Blanc and appraised by Tuscan-
based longtime Antiques Road Show expert James
Supp, who has valued it at more than $2.5 million.
Consisting of about 430 pieces — mostly from the
1890s — The Royal Hunt Collection includes mounts
from the Hapsburg and Hohenzollern dynasties, as well
as the famed Rothschild and Eulenburg families. “It’s
huge,” Supp says. “For a collection of this magnitude
to have survived two world wars, with all the property
confiscation that occurred, and to make it across
the Atlantic intact, is incredible. The royal Hapsburg
connection is astonishing, again, to have over here. There
are collections in Europe owned by the Hapsburgs, but
they have since become tourist attractions.”
The pieces were curated over a 40-year period
by an anonymous Dallas collector who is a longtime
member of the Dallas Safari Club and friend of Kaiser
Wilhem’s descendants, says Supp, who has devoted
more than 100 hours to authenticating and tracing the
provenance of each piece. It helped that many of the
mounts still have the original plaques and inscriptions
detailing the history of the particular hunt. On
other mounts, the plaques bearing inscriptions were
damaged or destroyed and have been meticulously
restored, with the work overseen by the collector.
The trophies are draped with royal medallions, coats
of arms, crowns and wappen — helmet front plates
of mostly WWI vintage that denote the regiment’s
province or state — or with officers’ gorgets or
veterans’ medals. But despite the imperial connections,
the trophies are surprisingly austere. You might
find a few Swarovski-encrusted medallions and fine
enameling here and there, but no precious stones were
used, and metals were made from mercury-fired gilded
brass. “You have to understand, these guys were
traipsing around in diamond-studded clothing with
strict protocols to their everyday lives,” Supp explains.
“Hunting was their escape, and the insides of their
hunting lodges … While they were still palaces, the
decoration would be understated, masculine, simpler.
It was their man cave.”
Thousands of
trophies fill the royal
families’ hunting lodges in Europe.
“All these guys did was hunt,” says
Supp. “Ferdinand [Franz
Ferdinand, Archduke of
Austria-Este, 1863-1914] was
said to have killed 200,000
animals. These huge collections
were meant to impress, to show off
how much leisure time you had.”
For the Kaiser, hunting was also an
opportunity to socialize and meet with
his ministers, who followed him from
lodge to lodge. “He hunted
twice a day — once in the
morning and again in
the afternoon,” Supp
says. “It was where
he was the happiest.”
Reportedly, when the
Kaiser abdicated in exile
in Austria after WWI, he
was given two weeks to
leave and 20 freight cars for
the total of his royal belongings.
Not surprising, the Kaiser filled them all
with 35,000 heads of deer, says Supp.
Some of the most spectacular pieces in
the Royal Hunt Collection are an 11-foot-
tall cross of St. Hubertus, the patron saint
of hunting, which was originally installed in
the chapel at the Imperial Rominten Hunting
Lodge in East Prussia, and a pair of fallow
deer mounts, notable for their matching
antlers. The twin stags were chosen by the
jagermeister (hunting master) for Kaiser
Wilhelm and Emperor Josef to hunt during
the 25th jubilee of the Emperor’s reign.
Many of the trophies are red stags, the
largest of the European deer. “The ones in
this collection are huge,” Supp says, with
20-or-more-point antlers and four-foot
spreads “that are just enormous. You very
rarely see deer that size any more.”
Coppola is collaborating with Pettigrew
Fine Furnishings showroom in Dallas for
a series of private viewings and cocktail
receptions for interior designers and
collectors. Interested parties may also view
the collection by appointment. The collection
opens to the public mid-January. A catalog is
available in print and online. Information
513.760.0040, suzanne@laurier
blanc.com; online catalog
royalhuntcollection.com.
Pettigrew Fine Furnishings,
Dallas Design District,
1805 Market Center Blvd.,
214.747.2232.
StagPARTY
BY REBECCA SHERMAN
From the Eulenberg Hunt, 1892 (a year best known for
tremendous red stags) with Sachsen Reserve Officer’s gorget
Vintage photograph depicting the Rothschild collection at an Austrian hunting estate Antelopes, springbok and impala from the African Hunt collection, taken by Thomas Von Prince in Tanga and
presented to Kaiser Wilhelm II
African Hunt collection piece from Tanga, presented to Kaiser Wilhelm II. Wappenschild is of the
Lion’s Order Germany Colonial Service medal, 2nd class, mounted on sunburst.
This giant red stag is
one of the oldest in the
collection, belonging
to King Frederick
William III of Prussia,
1770-1840
Red stag belonging to King Ludwig II of Bavaria,
part of the Kings of Bavaria collection
Eleven-foot-high St.
Hubertus cross with
250-year-old hunting
horn, commissioned
by Kaiser Wilhelm
II in honor of St.
Hubertus.
The Royal Hunt collection on display at Pettigrew
Red stag, European mount with cornice
from a Bulgarian castle
From the Eulenberg Hunt collection, a
magnificent red stag from 1892 with the
Prussian eagle wappenschild
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