A Remarkable Early-16th c. Cast Blank of an Arquebus Bronze Barrel

Matchlock · 27th March 2012, 05:32 PM

As the description mentions that the touch hole together with a rectangular (!) pan is situated on the right-hand side, the date of "mid-15th c." assigned by the auction house is not realistic; the earliest date, in comparison with similar barrels, that I would suggest is "second decade 16th c.", ca. 1515.

Cast with a socket for a tiller stock, the muzzle section missing. The high-relief banded friezes probably meant to bear a date or inscription which were never eventually chiseled though. The coat-of-arms also left unfinished.
In excavated condition.

While this no doubt represents a highly interesting sample of Late Medieval/Early Renaissance craftsmanship, its actual value in a specialized collection of complete actual guns is very limited. So I did not purchase it.
The fact that the estimate was only exceeded by 100 euro proves that extremely few people are actually ready to lay their money down for an excavated piece, no matter how rare it may be.

As I have always believed, condition is what matters in the end!

Best,
Michael

27th March 2012, 05:32 PM	#1
Matchlock (deceased) Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Bavaria, Germany - the center of 15th and 16th century gunmaking Posts: 4,310	A Remarkable Early-16th c. Cast Blank of an Arquebus Bronze Barrel As the description mentions that the touch hole together with a rectangular (!) pan is situated on the right-hand side, the date of "mid-15th c." assigned by the auction house is not realistic; the earliest date, in comparison with similar barrels, that I would suggest is "second decade 16th c.", ca. 1515. Cast with a socket for a tiller stock, the muzzle section missing. The high-relief banded friezes probably meant to bear a date or inscription which were never eventually chiseled though. The coat-of-arms also left unfinished. In excavated condition. While this no doubt represents a highly interesting sample of Late Medieval/Early Renaissance craftsmanship, its actual value in a specialized collection of complete actual guns is very limited. So I did not purchase it. The fact that the estimate was only exceeded by 100 euro proves that extremely few people are actually ready to lay their money down for an excavated piece, no matter how rare it may be. As I have always believed, condition is what matters in the end! Best, Michael Attached Images Last edited by Matchlock; 27th March 2012 at 08:01 PM.