A fine Nuremberg Bronze Hackbut Barrel c.1520

[Swordfish]

This is one of the rare bronze hackbut barrels with a mark that can be attributet with a high certainty to a specific gunfounder, in this case to Endres Pegnitzer the elder.
The barrel is formed in five sections divided by roped mouldings. The muzzle is roundet, the intermediate sections decagonal with an offset central section, the breech rectangular. The breech is painted in red with an old inventory number (Provenance!) of the armoury of the princes of Hohenzollern. In front of the breech it is struck with a maker's mark, a gothic 'P'.
In the elder literature the 'P' mark is often attributed to the barrel- smith Pögl in Styria which is clearly wrong,the Pögl carried on an iron- blacksmith but no bronze-foundry.
The mark must be attributed to Endres (Andreas) Pegnitzer in Nuremberg.

The present barrel is very similar at the muzzle and the and the changing sections to a falconet dated 1526 and signed E*P*G*M= Endres Pegnitzer Goß Mich=Endres Pegnitzer Cast Me, preserved at the castle Heidecksburg-Rudolstadt.The attribution is therefore safe.
Endres Pegnitzer was the son of a gun master in Nuremberg and is recorded there from 1504 until his death in 1554.
A near identical hackbut with 'P' mark and later stock is preserved in the arms collection at Veste Coburg.
A very similar example with original stock is in Matchlock's collection.(can you post again a picture of it?)
Dimensions: Length 90.3 cm; Bore:2.15 cm ; Weight: 13.7 kg

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