A Good and Rare Austrian Combined Wheellock and Matchlock Musket, ca. 1665-70

Matchlock · 10th January 2014, 11:02 PM

This sample, ca. 1670-80 was sold at Bonhams, London, in April 2004 at only 1,000 GBP.

Again, the provenance of Salzburg is proven by the hole in the buttstock.

So far, I have presented 11 different copies of that Austrian model, with most of them coming from the former Salzburg armory.
I remember some more that I have documented and will post them soon.

The Salzburg arsenal must have possessed an enormous number of that famous and well wrought type of combined wheellock/matchlock musket, which can hardly be found in other Austrian armories or museums. Neither the armories of Graz or Riegersburg, both situated in Styria, hold one single sample respectively. Eventually it became the second military pattern musket M 1686 in military history, next to the legendary combined flintlock and matchlock musket M 1666 with its integral long folding bayonet, called Montecuccoli after its inventor, Raimund Graf (count) Montecuccoli.
Actually that was a moment in time when the production of those guns had been in full swing already since the 1660's, and was nearing its end. I surmise that the last samples of that type of musket were manufactured in Suhl at the end of the 17th century; I have seen copies the buttstock of which did no longer show the characteristically 'bellied' shape of the 1660's-70's style but was completely straight by then - even straighter than on the sample in the Vienna Heeresgeschichtliches Museum (museum of military history) shown in post #3.

The historical second Turkish siege of Vienna, 14 July till 12 September 1683, certainly was the very fight when those muskets saw their most intensive service.

m

10th January 2014, 11:02 PM	#22
Matchlock (deceased) Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Bavaria, Germany - the center of 15th and 16th century gunmaking Posts: 4,310	This sample, ca. 1670-80 was sold at Bonhams, London, in April 2004 at only 1,000 GBP. Again, the provenance of Salzburg is proven by the hole in the buttstock. So far, I have presented 11 different copies of that Austrian model, with most of them coming from the former Salzburg armory. I remember some more that I have documented and will post them soon. The Salzburg arsenal must have possessed an enormous number of that famous and well wrought type of combined wheellock/matchlock musket, which can hardly be found in other Austrian armories or museums. Neither the armories of Graz or Riegersburg, both situated in Styria, hold one single sample respectively. Eventually it became the second military pattern musket M 1686 in military history, next to the legendary combined flintlock and matchlock musket M 1666 with its integral long folding bayonet, called Montecuccoli after its inventor, Raimund Graf (count) Montecuccoli. Actually that was a moment in time when the production of those guns had been in full swing already since the 1660's, and was nearing its end. I surmise that the last samples of that type of musket were manufactured in Suhl at the end of the 17th century; I have seen copies the buttstock of which did no longer show the characteristically 'bellied' shape of the 1660's-70's style but was completely straight by then - even straighter than on the sample in the Vienna Heeresgeschichtliches Museum (museum of military history) shown in post #3. The historical second Turkish siege of Vienna, 14 July till 12 September 1683, certainly was the very fight when those muskets saw their most intensive service. m Attached Images Last edited by Matchlock; 11th January 2014 at 01:29 AM.