Matchlock
21st March 2012, 09:53 PM
The three-stage wrought-iron barrel and the stock both of ca. 1540, the lock - probably replacing the original snap-tinderlock mechanism - crudely added probably during the late Thirty Years War, the 1640's, when any obsolete gun was re-activated as long as it would fire. The lock is of the common Suhl made type (and widely used in the Netherlands) of ca. 1620 which is found on all other early 17-th c. matchlock muskets and wall guns in the Emden armory. You can see that nobody cared that it was actually too long for the stock, so the rear end was just crudely bent to fit the curve of the buttstock, and with the sidenails entering from the right side.
The pan, cover and fire screen were 'modernized' at the same time.
The barrel may have been made in either Nuremberg or Suhl.
I have no explanation for the unusual nailed tinned-iron decoration on top of the buttstock, apart from the fact that it reminds me of Nothern European runes. Maybe this would make a hint to the region where the armory that originally housed this gun was situated ...
The characteristic reversed z-shape of the buttstock was adopted and traditionally carried on in both Turkish and Indian muskets for hundreds of years.
I photographed this in 1987.
Best,
Michael
The pan, cover and fire screen were 'modernized' at the same time.
The barrel may have been made in either Nuremberg or Suhl.
I have no explanation for the unusual nailed tinned-iron decoration on top of the buttstock, apart from the fact that it reminds me of Nothern European runes. Maybe this would make a hint to the region where the armory that originally housed this gun was situated ...
The characteristic reversed z-shape of the buttstock was adopted and traditionally carried on in both Turkish and Indian muskets for hundreds of years.
I photographed this in 1987.
Best,
Michael