A couple mortars for comments

Matchlock · 6th June 2012, 01:43 PM

Exactly, Rick,

That's what I noted earlier in a similar thread:

http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...ight=linstocks

They were kept resting in a bowl filled with glowing coal to retain their red heat.

The bulbous, pear-shaped form on igniting irons which could hold the heat longer does not seem to have turned up before the 16th century (images attachted). But even those bulbous heads were equiped with tapering pricks (Zündstachel) for small touch holes which have also mostly fallen off, due to a permanent change of exposure to red heat and rust.

The photo with the big cannon was taken in the 15th c. armory of the Fortress Oberhaus in Passau, Lower Bavaria, where three of my finest hackbut barrels came from, one of them dated 1481, which makes it the earliest dated small firearm known:

http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...highlight=1481

The Passau hackbut barrels can be seen on the wall to the right of the cannon. The outside of the fortress walls is dated 1499.

The barrel of the cannon is dated 1726 and left to the piece two igniting irons can be seen on their long hafts, alongside with two scourers (Rohrwischer).

Best,
Michael

Matchlock · 6th June 2012, 02:31 PM

As to such rarissimae as matchcord:

The largest number of matchcord bundles ever deaccessioned from an armory was at Anderson Galleries in New York in 1927, when the complete 15th-17th c. contents of the Fortress of Hohenwerfen near Salzburg/Austria, the former armory of Prince Eugene, were sold at aution. Some of these were purchased by American museums like the Higgis Armory in Worcester, Massachusetts (images attached at bottom).

The Christie's bundle posted above (and reattached) was deaccessioned by the Higgins.

The Higgins comment that the relatively large diameter of that matchcord seems to denote use with linkstocks only can be denied on the grounds of some thirty original matchlock muskets from ca. 1656 -1720 in my collection: all of their serpentine jaws can be opened wide enough by the means of the wignut to receive (and clamp tight) any average matchcord.

As to my own thirty years of intense research, and as I mentioned above, only the earliest 15th to early-16th c. types of matchcord did not fit the very delicate serpentines of that period; therefore these arquebuses were lit by small pieces of smoldering tinder and should, as I have pointed out often before, be called tinderlocks instead of matchlocks. These pieces of tinder had to be lit before each shot with the thick slow match kept smoldering all the time.

The largest number of big bundles of early matchcord (22!) is housed in the famous Churburg Armory in South Tyrol, and in the armory of the Veste Coburg, Franconia (eight, photos attached). The eight Coburg bundles of snowwhite (all other samples are either yellowish or brownish!) slow match measure about 35-40 meters each.

The eperts of the leading auction houses in the world have attended my collection, and they all agree that the largest amount of matchcord in any private hands is assembled in mine.

Best,
Michael

6th June 2012, 01:43 PM	#1
Matchlock (deceased) Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Bavaria, Germany - the center of 15th and 16th century gunmaking Posts: 4,310	Exactly, Rick, That's what I noted earlier in a similar thread: http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...ight=linstocks They were kept resting in a bowl filled with glowing coal to retain their red heat. The bulbous, pear-shaped form on igniting irons which could hold the heat longer does not seem to have turned up before the 16th century (images attachted). But even those bulbous heads were equiped with tapering pricks (Zündstachel) for small touch holes which have also mostly fallen off, due to a permanent change of exposure to red heat and rust. The photo with the big cannon was taken in the 15th c. armory of the Fortress Oberhaus in Passau, Lower Bavaria, where three of my finest hackbut barrels came from, one of them dated 1481, which makes it the earliest dated small firearm known: http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...highlight=1481 The Passau hackbut barrels can be seen on the wall to the right of the cannon. The outside of the fortress walls is dated 1499. The barrel of the cannon is dated 1726 and left to the piece two igniting irons can be seen on their long hafts, alongside with two scourers (Rohrwischer). Best, Michael Attached Images Last edited by Matchlock; 6th June 2012 at 03:06 PM.

6th June 2012, 02:31 PM	#2
Matchlock (deceased) Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Bavaria, Germany - the center of 15th and 16th century gunmaking Posts: 4,310	The rarest original accouterment to find: matchcord or slow match As to such rarissimae as matchcord: The largest number of matchcord bundles ever deaccessioned from an armory was at Anderson Galleries in New York in 1927, when the complete 15th-17th c. contents of the Fortress of Hohenwerfen near Salzburg/Austria, the former armory of Prince Eugene, were sold at aution. Some of these were purchased by American museums like the Higgis Armory in Worcester, Massachusetts (images attached at bottom). The Christie's bundle posted above (and reattached) was deaccessioned by the Higgins. The Higgins comment that the relatively large diameter of that matchcord seems to denote use with linkstocks only can be denied on the grounds of some thirty original matchlock muskets from ca. 1656 -1720 in my collection: all of their serpentine jaws can be opened wide enough by the means of the wignut to receive (and clamp tight) any average matchcord. As to my own thirty years of intense research, and as I mentioned above, only the earliest 15th to early-16th c. types of matchcord did not fit the very delicate serpentines of that period; therefore these arquebuses were lit by small pieces of smoldering tinder and should, as I have pointed out often before, be called tinderlocks instead of matchlocks. These pieces of tinder had to be lit before each shot with the thick slow match kept smoldering all the time. The largest number of big bundles of early matchcord (22!) is housed in the famous Churburg Armory in South Tyrol, and in the armory of the Veste Coburg, Franconia (eight, photos attached). The eight Coburg bundles of snowwhite (all other samples are either yellowish or brownish!) slow match measure about 35-40 meters each. The eperts of the leading auction houses in the world have attended my collection, and they all agree that the largest amount of matchcord in any private hands is assembled in mine. Best, Michael Attached Images