A very rare combined wheel-lock pistol and dagger, ca. 1550-60
 

Overall length 34,5 cm, the blade missing.

The images are rather poor, I got them from a small French auction house last year.

I attach a b/w image of a similar but complete piece at the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg.

Michael

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The rest.

Amazing piece! and what is so fascinating is these combination weapons. The concept seems fully understandable...if the firearm misfires, you have an edged weapon already in hand. It does seem that the sword would be terribly balanced, but in a rapidly developing contact in combat...at least you would have something for some degree of thrust.

Interesting also, is how this beautiful gun, which does not have the sword blade, still carries the sword hilt. The eagle head is fantastic, and beautiflly executed. It is easy to see how these later became stylized into the hilt shapes of many hirschfangers in the 17th and 18th centuries. A number of these are shown in Lededynsky's book on the arms of Central Europe, and faithfully have carried forth the combination weapon concept. It must have worked pretty well!!

All best regards,
Jim

A Combined Wheellock Pistol and Dagger, Bavaria, ca. 1550
 

Sold at Bonhams, London.

The blade is missing.

The barrel and lock of characteristic mid-16th c. form, with the sickle-shaped dog spring running around the wheel, the left-hand end of the lock plate struck with an unrecorded maker's mark, a trefoil in a shield.

The highly figured form of the dog spring reminds of a similar on a combination firearm by Peter Peck, Munich, in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, N.Y. (attached).

The catalog description states that the grip is 17th c. replacement; it looks o.k. to me for mid-16th c. though.


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The top attachments show the weapon in the Met, the etching on the calendar blade by Ambrosius Gemlich of Munich, dated 1546.

Please note the similarities of the rear section of the barrel and the lock mechanism, especially the figured sickle-shaped dog spring, between the item in discussion and the Met piece.

The lock, in all probability, was also made in Munich, possibly by Peter Peck.


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The remaining photos of this remarkable item.

The bottom image depicts the maker's mark.

Bore
 

I forgot to add that this is a rare caliber, ca. 120-bore, corresponding to ca. 8-9 mm.

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