Matchlock Pistol

Raf · 26th June 2024, 10:53 AM

The barrel shows a snake, as known from Peter Danner from Nuremberg. The lock mark with the letters "L and B" could be interpreted as being made by Lorenz Beheim, also from Nuremberg.

I think your point is that Lorenz Beheim, is too early and Peter Danner , could not have made something this incompetent. The lock plate shape with the pan integral to lock would argue 1620/40s but its not a form normally seen . It looks as if the flashpan is a separate component with an extension below the pan screwed onto the lock from the inside . The serpentine is rather inelegant. For me the metalwork has a blurred look to it which you would associate with a casting rather than hand chiseling or engraving.

If the makers mark is supposed to refer to Lorenz Beheim , occupation. gunmaker; cannon founder; armourer; pewter caster. Date of birth. 1487, then this is an association that might have appealed to a nineteenth century forger. Forgers sometimes aim to succeed by filling out the gaps in history where there is no known precedent. Van Meegeren forgeries of Vermeer were initially successful because he created a series of religious pictures in the style of Vermeer for which there were no direct comparisons.

26th June 2024, 10:53 AM	#4
Raf Member Join Date: Nov 2013 Posts: 250	The barrel shows a snake, as known from Peter Danner from Nuremberg. The lock mark with the letters "L and B" could be interpreted as being made by Lorenz Beheim, also from Nuremberg. I think your point is that Lorenz Beheim, is too early and Peter Danner , could not have made something this incompetent. The lock plate shape with the pan integral to lock would argue 1620/40s but its not a form normally seen . It looks as if the flashpan is a separate component with an extension below the pan screwed onto the lock from the inside . The serpentine is rather inelegant. For me the metalwork has a blurred look to it which you would associate with a casting rather than hand chiseling or engraving. If the makers mark is supposed to refer to Lorenz Beheim , occupation. gunmaker; cannon founder; armourer; pewter caster. Date of birth. 1487, then this is an association that might have appealed to a nineteenth century forger. Forgers sometimes aim to succeed by filling out the gaps in history where there is no known precedent. Van Meegeren forgeries of Vermeer were initially successful because he created a series of religious pictures in the style of Vermeer for which there were no direct comparisons.