Flint with lead holder

[Marcus den toom]

I boughed this fine specimen from a metal detector enthausiast and he found them near the city of Gorichem in the Netherlands. This same guy has found several pieces of clod shot which are visble in this thread (http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=18681).
This flint with it original lead holder is almost complete with only missing one lead strap at the left side. These flints are very hard to find intact but they appear from time to time at the Dutch battlegrounds of the Golden ages. The war against the Spanish was held against many city´samong them Gorichem which was reclaimed by the "water Geuzen" (Rebel forces) and the grand army of the Prince of Nassau. This flint with holder could have been used by these forces. The battle was foughed on the 26th of June 1572. EDIT "as Adrian correctly remarked, the flintlock was not yet made in this period of time, my appologies for this misinformation"

[adrian]

If this is from a flintlock firearm doesn't that battle (1572) pre date the regular use of such mechanisms? I understand that the use of lead, as opposed to leather, for encasing the flint is not uncommon throughout the flintlock period, some still do this nowadays - but I have not seen an ornate one like this before, it is most interesting.

[Marcus den toom]

You are absolutely right Adrian, such a stupid mistake of me
Yes the first flintlock was made in 1610 in France... i don't know about the Snaphance locks, but a more likely date would be around 1650-1700.

[fernando]

A rather peculiar item, Marcus,
Can't you get a (even ) more clear picture ?
Sorry the impertinence but, could it be that the piece of lead was already decorated before it was trimmed for the flint holding effect ?

[Matchlock]

Hi Marcus,


Thousands of those lead-wrapped flints used in the cocks of military flintlock muskets are found by farmers every year; several of them are preserved in The MICHAEL TRÖMNER COLLECTION.

Only the so-called BLOND flints, also called HORN flints, are quite rare to detect. The best chances to detect blond flints are when searching in France (they were quarried in great numbers near St. Etienne), Belgium, Germany and Austria.
There are dozens of all sizes of blond flints in my collection.

The GRAY (in British English: grey) and BROWNISH colored flints, and especially the BLACK colored Podolian (German: podolisch) types, are very common; they were mostly used in the Netherlands and in the area of what is Great Britain and Ireland today.

Prices for the latter vary from 1-5 euros per piece.


Best,
Michael

[Matchlock]

A few more, the last two from my my collection.

m

[fernando]

Yes, Michl,
But none of those lead cases now posted is decorated; am i right ?

[Matchlock]

Of course you're right, Nando,

They must be on some older back-up disc dating back about 8 years, and saving my data from an earlier computer of mine.

Actually I have seen many of them but never integrated one with my collection, as they strictly belong to the Ottoman cultural area starting with Romania, Macedonia and Albania, instead of the Western European sphere.

I attached a sample which I copied from this site:
http://www.echad.info/uifinds/?to=vi...&find_id=45369

For more on Western gun flints and their usually undecorated coatings or wrappings, please cf.:
http://www.minutemantreasures.com/5139/11401.html

Some samples from the latter site attached below.


Best,
m