Ca. 1500 to 1650: Bandeliers for Arquebusiers and Musketeers

Matchlock · 18th March 2014, 07:46 PM

A very spacious but delicate leather pouch on an arquebusier's bandelier of Swiss type, 1st half to mid-16th century, in the Germanisches Nationalmuseum (NM) Nuremberg; the small powder measures are of tinned iron. This enormous pouch certainly not only answered the purpose of holding balls but had other small accouterments as well: e.g. for wadding and cleaning tools like scourers etc. that were screwed to the threaded finial of the ramrod.
A bandelier of the same type is preserved in the reserve collection of the Historisches Museum Basel, Switzerland; the straight edges of the trapezoid powder flask denote that it is early 16th c., the leather is tooled with an episcopal staff, the city arms of Basel.
The six small iron flasks are tinned and covered with thin leather (now mostly missing). Cf. my earliest bandelier, posts #1 and 2. I believe the powder measures on my bandelier were originally covered with leather as well, just to keep them from rattling; also, the tannin acid of the leather may account for their being heavily rusted. Today, only the leather cover of the match hider lid is still present.

Author's photos, 1993.

To Martin Moser:
The small round, brown priming flask with the integral stand is also early 16th c. and exactly the type to go perfectly with your snap-tinderlock arquebus! Sadly, some of the photos are out of focus.

Best,
Michael

18th March 2014, 07:46 PM	#20
Matchlock (deceased) Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Bavaria, Germany - the center of 15th and 16th century gunmaking Posts: 4,310	A very spacious but delicate leather pouch on an arquebusier's bandelier of Swiss type, 1st half to mid-16th century, in the Germanisches Nationalmuseum (NM) Nuremberg; the small powder measures are of tinned iron. This enormous pouch certainly not only answered the purpose of holding balls but had other small accouterments as well: e.g. for wadding and cleaning tools like scourers etc. that were screwed to the threaded finial of the ramrod. A bandelier of the same type is preserved in the reserve collection of the Historisches Museum Basel, Switzerland; the straight edges of the trapezoid powder flask denote that it is early 16th c., the leather is tooled with an episcopal staff, the city arms of Basel. The six small iron flasks are tinned and covered with thin leather (now mostly missing). Cf. my earliest bandelier, posts #1 and 2. I believe the powder measures on my bandelier were originally covered with leather as well, just to keep them from rattling; also, the tannin acid of the leather may account for their being heavily rusted. Today, only the leather cover of the match hider lid is still present. Author's photos, 1993. To Martin Moser: The small round, brown priming flask with the integral stand is also early 16th c. and exactly the type to go perfectly with your snap-tinderlock arquebus! Sadly, some of the photos are out of focus. Best, Michael Attached Images Last edited by Matchlock; 18th March 2014 at 09:19 PM.