A Snap Tinderlock Haquebut, ca.1515-20 , in the Tojhusmuseet Copenhagen

[Matchlock]

A second thought:

It is even possible, if not probable, that the stock was made as late as the 1560's because it already shows the characteristic deeply cut thumb rest of the early Spanish-Netherlandish musket stocks.
No other stock with this thumb rest is known before that period - and certainly not of the second decade of the 16th c.

m

[fernando]

Originally Posted by Matchlock

... that the stock was made as late as the 1560's because it already shows the characteristic deeply cut thumb rest of the early Spanish-Netherlandish musket stocks. ...

Amazing how this detail was in use, with practically the same shape, until just the other day.

.

[Matchlock]

Absolutely true, 'Nando,

And let me add that the characteristc 'Spanish' toe on the underside of the buttstock goes back to Italian and German pistols of ca. 1535-40!
Attached are
- a North Italian three-barrel revolving matchlock pistol (Luntendrehling) of ca. 1535-40, in the Palazzo Ducale, Venice
- a fine Nuremberg wheellock pistol of ca. 1535-40, in the Musée de l'Armée, Paris

Best,
Michael

[fernando]

One more stock provided with a characteristic carved thumb rest, mounted with an earlier barrel, caliber 19,5 m/m, dated circa 1470.

.

[Matchlock]

Hi 'Nando,

I am glad you came in with this - and thanks a million for leafing thru your library!

I knew this piece, of course; it is in a Czech museum and was published by Durdik.

I totally have to disagree with the date 'ca. 1470' assigned by Durdik et al.
Guessing this date was inspired by the fact that the touch hole of the octagonal barrel is still situated on top - in its earliest possible place - , by the relative shape of the barrel (of which only the rear portion is shown), the presence of what might be a late-style mark in front of the touch hole, and most of all by the presence of a tang (shortened later), all denote that this actually is another composite arsenal piece.

So this dating, as so many others, seems to have fallen prey to a first sight assignation.

As is almost always the case with composite pieces, the barrel seems to be the oldest/earliest part. It, too, however, might have been altered and been mounted in several other stocks! If I were to date it, I would suggest ca. 1530-50', the stock with its prounced deeply-cut thumb rest - and here we have a true parallel to the Copenhagen piece - clearly dating from the 1560's by the earliest

Again, there is a high probability that this gun was assembled only when the need of firearms had increased to a level unbearable: the 1640's, the late Thirty Years.

An arquebus of ca. 1520-30 is illustrated on a ca. 1530 Tounai mille fleurs tapestry in the museum of Burghausen, Upper Bavaria. It shows the same top touch hole but a contemporary stock with no thumb rest (attached).

Best,
Michl