A Myth Busted: the Famous OTTHEINRICH Wheellock Arquebus Dated 1533!

[Matchlock]

In the collection of the Bayerisches Nationalmuseum (Bavarian National Museum) Munich, there is a short wheellock sporting arquebus (Old German Pirschbüchse, as it is traditionally called), dated 1533, which, since 1972, has been on display in the Bayerisches Armeemuseum (Bavarian Army Museum) Ingolstadt, some 30 kilometers from where I live. It originally beloged to Ottheinrich von der Pfalz (1502-1559), whose initials H.OTTH, together with the date 1533 and the Bavarian lozenge coat-of-arms, are inlaid in engraved bone on the left-hand rear end of the reddish cherry- or pear-wood full stock.
HOTTH is the abbreviation of Herzog (Count Palatine) OttHeinrich (Otto-Henry).

No measurements are provided by the museum but the overall length of trhe arquebus is ca. 80 cm; inv.no. A11918.



This short sporting arquebus is by far not as 'untouched' and 'originally early' as it both seems and as the community has tended to believe so far. For academic research and comparison with other contemporary early-1530 wheellocks, it therefore has to be taken cum grano salis, especially when the lock is concerned.

In the following I will prove that the seemingly early-style lock has been crudely altered in various parts to convey an even more archaic impression - without any practical need, and most probably done only about 100 years ago before selling it at auction. This relates especially to the dog spring; the present dog can be closely dated to ca. 1580 has been mentioned by experts before, but in no case is it a 'working-time' replacement but obviously the original dog had been missing.
There are even strong hints that, with high probability, the complete lock may not originally belong as wood replacements of different outline along the lower edge and the forward section of the lock plate indicate!


Next images, in order of appearance:

- close-ups of the lock plate with a writhen spring-loaded iron push-button pan-cover release

- writhen pommel of 1530's Landsknecht sword, decorated in the same style as the pan-cover push-button release on HOTTH's wheellock

- close-up of HOTTH's portrait of ca. 1540, by Georg Pencz, depicting the writhen mushroom-shaped pommel of HOTTH's Landsknecht-type sword decorated in the same Early-Renaissance style as the pan-cover button release on the gun

- close-ups of the three-stage round barrel with back- and foresight

- close-up of the left-hand end of the buttstock, showing the bone inlays bearing OttheinrichÄs initials HOTTH, the date 1533 and the Bavarian lozenge coat-of-arms

- the arquebus (on the extreme left in the glass case) in the exhibition room in the Late-Gothic Neues Schloss (New Castle), Bavarian Army Museum, Ingolstadt