Marc,
Thank you so much for the information kindly provided about the Real Armerķa Madrid (RAM).
I was aware of the bad lighting conditions; a friend of mine was there and had a very expensive camera but the low light, the glass and the red decoration spoilt almost everything. The other pics that I posted I had found in the internet, accompanied by the same kind of comments.
Actually there is a number of very good and large photos of some of the RAM's earliest harquebuses and pistols (I posted one of them above) in
Javier Sagrera Azpillaga: Apuntes de la Armerķa Espanola, siglos XVI a XIX. Madrid, 2001. ISBN 84-607-2327-5. 502 pp. (ca. 150-160 USD).
It is a highly recommendable book, notwithstanding the fact that many of the wheel-lock and flintlock pistols from an apparently private collection are partly fakes and/or in very poor condition.
I am always grateful for hints on new or old publications where 15th/16th century firearms are illustrated, especially from the RAM. Nobody is perfect, neither is my library.
I am also in desparate search of color illustations from Charles V's Inventario Iluminado. They have them in the RAM but they will not answer back to a foreigner.
If anyone could make contacts to the staff of the RAM for me, that would be really great!!! Writing and reading Spanish is not the problem.
Michael
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