Horse carriages of this type were used to convey shooting parties to the open country. The construction is lightweight but very robust, hence the use of wickerwork panels.
This rare example was built by Carl Helmbold in Cross Beskerek in Hungary and a newspaper report published in the Scotsman links the carriage to BalmoralCastle. It is possible that Prince Albert may have purchased a ‘shooting wagon’ from the Austro-Hungarian Empire at that time. This ‘shooting wagon’ was certainly disposed of by a Huntly scrap yard in the 1950’s to the St Cuthberts Cooperative Society in Edinburgh and was reported to be from Balmoral.
The roof canopy is a later addition but in all other respects the hunting phaeton or ‘Jagwagen’ is original. It would have been pulled by a pair of Garron ponies.