A fifteenth century handgun and a modern mystery

Ed · 8th October 2008, 03:45 AM

This is a ca. 1450 tiller gun probably German.

Barrel 28" (71.2cm) o/a 44" (111.5cm) Bore ~ .5"

The interesting thing is the inscription which is

CASTILLO de MONTJUIC
BERNAT de SARRIA
1329 A.D.
BARCELONA, SPAIN
# de 4378

Now, I am pretty sure of a couple of things, one is that the hero, Bernat, never held this weapon. Another is that anyone inscribing an "inventory" number for the collection at the Castillo would not <ahem> write "Spain".

Interesting stuff but not terribly noteworthy. It does get more interesting, however.

The last inscription is on a folding hand cannon of approximately the same era. It says what mine says except with a different "Inventory" (It's still "Spain" though.)

Now, it seems that my buddy Matchlock came across at least one other weapon with a similar inscription in Europe and I came across one here in the USA and have heard of at least one other one.

Matchlock and I sort of agreed that what probably happened was that some dealer in the 20's (?) inscribed a bunch of weapons to make them more salable, giving them a provenance as it were.

There is more though. The great Spanish Collector, Jose Estruch y Cumella, had his collection in Barcelona not terribly far from the Castillo. The collection was dispersed ... Jeez, the date escapes me and it's late, lets say early 1900's. An english dealer (who would, presumably, spell Spain ... well ... "Spain") handled at least some of the sales. Could it be from his collection? I managed to obtain a catalog of his collection from a dealer in Russia (don't ask). No signs of this piece or any of the other "marked" ones. Could this piece (and the others) have been legitimately deaccessioned from the Castillo? Who knows. I have been unable to find out if the Castillo's collection ever included very early firearms.

So there it stands. Anyone here familiar with the Castillo and it's collections?

Anyone have any ideas?

BTW, the authenticity of the pieces is not really an issue, what I find fasinating is the question of the provenance.

8th October 2008, 03:45 AM	#1
Ed Member Join Date: Feb 2005 Posts: 256	A fifteenth century handgun and a modern mystery This is a ca. 1450 tiller gun probably German. Barrel 28" (71.2cm) o/a 44" (111.5cm) Bore ~ .5" The interesting thing is the inscription which is CASTILLO de MONTJUIC BERNAT de SARRIA 1329 A.D. BARCELONA, SPAIN # de 4378 Now, I am pretty sure of a couple of things, one is that the hero, Bernat, never held this weapon. Another is that anyone inscribing an "inventory" number for the collection at the Castillo would not <ahem> write "Spain". Interesting stuff but not terribly noteworthy. It does get more interesting, however. The last inscription is on a folding hand cannon of approximately the same era. It says what mine says except with a different "Inventory" (It's still "Spain" though.) Now, it seems that my buddy Matchlock came across at least one other weapon with a similar inscription in Europe and I came across one here in the USA and have heard of at least one other one. Matchlock and I sort of agreed that what probably happened was that some dealer in the 20's (?) inscribed a bunch of weapons to make them more salable, giving them a provenance as it were. There is more though. The great Spanish Collector, Jose Estruch y Cumella, had his collection in Barcelona not terribly far from the Castillo. The collection was dispersed ... Jeez, the date escapes me and it's late, lets say early 1900's. An english dealer (who would, presumably, spell Spain ... well ... "Spain") handled at least some of the sales. Could it be from his collection? I managed to obtain a catalog of his collection from a dealer in Russia (don't ask). No signs of this piece or any of the other "marked" ones. Could this piece (and the others) have been legitimately deaccessioned from the Castillo? Who knows. I have been unable to find out if the Castillo's collection ever included very early firearms. So there it stands. Anyone here familiar with the Castillo and it's collections? Anyone have any ideas? BTW, the authenticity of the pieces is not really an issue, what I find fasinating is the question of the provenance. Attached Images