A Nuremberg Musketeer's Combined Powder & Priming Flask & Cartridge Holder, ca. 1600

[Matchlock]

For my one thousandth post I chose this highly unusual specimen; it is finely made in each detail and really worth a close look.

Internally it consists of a two chamber system for barrel and priming powder with separate tapering sprung tap nozzles respectively; the nozzle for barrel powder has the usual spring loaded cut off lever for dosage at the base. The wrought iron lid base is struck with the maker's mark, a horn with an arrow thru the loop, and the Nuremberg City mark. The trapezoidal wooden core is covered with blackened leather, the edges reinforced with blackened iron. There are four rings for a suspension cord and a curved iron belt hook at the back. All of the spring actions are very tight even after 400 years. The lid bears an old collection number in white ink. The height is 23 cm.

The plicated leather pouch on the front with lid (draw string incomplete) contains a tinned iron cartrigde holder with three compartments for paper cartridges of a caliber of ca. 20 mm each, meaning that this is an extremely rare piece of infantry combined accouterment for a musketeer or guardsman with a heavy musket, probably a wheel-lock.

The whole piece is extremely well wrought, finished and preserved in virtually untouched, 'near mint' condition. It came from the Henk L. Visser collection via Bonhams. None of the usual Thirty Years War mass production flasks compares to this, so it must be one of a very small number of combination flasks made in ca. 1600 for a limited group like a guard.

Only two other flasks of that group are known to have survived besides mine, and both of them are preserved in rather poor condition. Both bear the identical maker's mark and Nuremberg mark. One is in the Musée de l'Armée in Paris, it came from the Belgian 19th century collection of the Musée Baron van den Bogaerde; the cut off lever is a poor replacement and all of the original blackening of the iron surfaces has gone due to crude cleaning.
The other is preserved in Kreuzenstein Castle near Vienna; only a poor b/w print of it exists but one can see that the priming nozzle is deformed and has had crude repair to the sprung tap.

I attach scans of both flasks for comparison.

Best,
Michael

[Matchlock]

A view into the leather pouch of my flask showing the wooden base of the cartridge holder, the latter taken out.

[Matchlock]

The two flasks in Paris and Kreuzenstein for comparison.

m

[Matchlock]

The presence of the cartridge holder in my specimen proves that both the German and French museum descriptions 'Kugeltasche/sac à balles' (bullet pouch) of the leather pouch are definitely wrong. Consequently, the cartridge holders must be missing from the leather pouches on the other flasks.

Michael

[Matchlock]

Enjoy.
m

[Matchlock]

For earliest trapezoidal musketeer's flasks please see

http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...s+powder+flask