Rare 15th and 16th Century Ball Molds

[Shakethetrees]

Originally Posted by Matchlock

They are all in my collection.

First of all, as I am not a native English speaker:

The general English term is bullet mold, but on thother hand, there is the expression powder and ball.
So, when speaking of bullet molds for muzzleloading guns - should they not be called ball molds, consequently?

Attachments, from top:

- the only known Late Gothic ball mold for haquebuts, ca. 1480-1500, and actually an impressive tool!

- contemporary illustration of such a mold, the handles shaped exactly as they are on my piece, from:
Codex icon. 222, fol. 35v, by Jörg Kölderer, 1595-1515.

- one of the oldest known South German ball molds, to which I cannot assign any closer range of dating than ca. 1460-1540; the dyadic mold of brass, and struck with a maker's mark, a Gothic symbol; the handles of wrought iron, and with swamped globular finials - shaped exactly like the long trigger bars on contemporary matchlock arquebuses from the 1st half of the 16th century!

- 2 images of the lock and trigger bar of my Straubing arquebus of ca. 1540 attached

Some detached brass molds of similar type are recorded, mostly with their iron handles missing - see attachments to post #1.
They seem to have continued being made for a very long period of time, and almost unaltered, especially in Eastern Europe, and in the 500 year-old traditional Early Renaissance German style. The sample in my collection, however, is the only recorded specimen to be truck with a mark in the German Gothic style.
A very similar founder's mark is on the cast brass/bronze barrel of ca. 1490, of my earliest Landsknecht matchlock arquebus of ca. 1520!
A close-up photo of the maker's mark on the barrel of that important piece is attached to the folllowing post!


Please note that the scale is in centimeters, as I live in Bavaria, where the metric system is sort of compulsory ...


Best, Michael

Michael,

With all due respect, the tool illustrated in the codex is a pair of pincers, used to remove sprues and flashings from balls after they have been removed from the mold. The jaws are open sided, and would not work as a receptacle for molten metal!

The curled handle is similar to the curled triggers you mention, except that this feature is commonly found on old handmade tongs, pliers, ball molds and other similarly constructed tools. I have several in my shop.

I am a master metal smith with over thirty years experience in the field of antique metal restoration, and a number of commissioned pieces as well. Over the years I have collected (accumulated?) a lot of old tools, some coming from Northern Germany directly from the family who used them since the eighteenth century or possibly earlier!

I also consult with several auction houses locally, as well as numerous museums and historic houses in my area on a wide variety of topics.

I have, a long time ago, made movie props for movies filmed in the area until I realized that whenever you get the contract to provide anything for a movie, your entire life is taken over by the production.

I don't mention this in order to blow my own horn, as the saying goes, but, as somewhat of a newcomer who just yesterday got a PM informing me that my membership status in this forum has finally been removed from probation.

I just want to let everyone know a little about me.

I believe this is a factor of tool evolution that has carried across the entire spectrum of two piece blacksmith-made, pivoting tools.

Thank you all for making this one of the most interesting groups like this that I have ever found!

[Shakethetrees]

...and I almost forgot:

I really like your molds, two in particular: the cast, vase form and the thin wrought brass piece brazed to the iron handles!

If I had any of the very early arms like you have, they would fit very comfortably in my collection!

[Matchlock]

Originally Posted by Shakethetrees

Michael,

With all due respect, the tool illustrated in the codex is a pair of pincers ...

Which tool are you talking about?
Please copy, mark, and post one of my images, just to make sure we're on the same page, and track!

Best,
Michael

[Shakethetrees]

Michael,

This is the one I mentioned earlier.

[Matchlock]

Originally Posted by Shakethetrees

Michael,

This is the one I mentioned earlier.

Originally Posted by Matchlock

This, I am afraid, is another topic rarely ever paid attention to.

I wish to present a few items from my collection, togehter with others.

Originally Posted by Matchlock

I can only bring forward one single sample of a late 15th/early 16th century wrought iron mold for casting balls for wall pieces and haquebuts. It is of impressive dimensions and shows the same roughly hammered surface as most iron haquebut barrels do. Its weight is almost 2 kg and its caliber 31 mm.
There are also stylistic reasons for dating this mould: one of the handles of a pair of pliers in the Maximilian Arsenal Books of ca. 1507, as well as the trigger of a beautiful Late Gothic crossbow in the collection of a friend of mine, show the same curved back form as my mould does.

Of course, this is a pair of pliers.
All I added that contemporary source of illustration for, was for stylistic and formal comparison of the lengthend lower handle bent backwards, to ensure a safer hold for four fingers; just like the long tiller trigger/trigger bar of the Late-Gotic crossbow of ca. 1500 attatted here.

I was hoping my arguments on these items that are extremely hard to define, would be read, and considered, more carefully ...

For more on Gothic crossbows and accouterments, please see my threads
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...thic+crossbows
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...thic+crossbows



Thanks for noting,
and best,
Michael

[Matchlock]

Here are some fundamental thoughts on identidfying and dating simple pieces of firearms accouterments like ball molds.

Basically, they seen to have been developed in the Germanic regions, first emerging during the 2nd half of the 14th century and consisting of two rectangular halves of soapstone.
Any identifaction and dating should be done considering the fact that in most cases, with the exact circumstances of detection of an item and its original provenance unclear, only formal criteria can be defined.
E.g., even soapstone was kept in use for ball cast in Northern America until at least the era of the Revolution Wars in the late 18th c., and American molds for both single or multiple cast still looked the same then as they did in Old Europe around 1400, and this also true for the rest of the world, and for brass molds, at least since ca. 1500 when they got loops for attaching scissor-like iron handles.

In many instances, the latter, especially when coming from South Eastern Europe, including countries like Romania, Albania and Turkey, where they stayed in use throughout the muzzleloading era, most specimens seem a bit less well wrought than they were in the Germanic regions from where they once were imported, with their handles no longer showing the characteristic Late Gothic/Early Renaiance stylistic criteria, like knob finials to the iron handles or a founder's mark.
This is why the author had to wait for four decades before he found a mold which united all basic early criteria, including old repairs denoting a very long working life and surfaces of iron and brass that bore witness of a great age, plus a founder's mark in the Gothic style; still he cannot be absolutely sure that even his sample was made in Turkey, and only in the 18th c. ...


Best,
Michael

My computer will be on "intensive care" at a workshop for the rest of the week.

[Matchlock]

Attachments:
A multiple ball cast made of brass, ca. 1500-50; Austrian private collection.

[Matchlock]

Attached:

- Wrought iron ball mold, U.S.A., 1st half 19th c.; Northern American molds from the 18th and 19th centuries often have a rounded and beveled shape.

- Brass ball mould with wrought iron handles, in the Germanic early 16th c. style; most probably Turkish, 19th c.

- Three bottom atts., for close comparison:
The specimen in the author's collection, in all probability South German, ca. 1500-30.


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