Dating Earliest Barrels: the Importance of the Position of the Touch Hole

[Matchlock]

Heavy, octagonal wrought-iron barrel changing flats to an upper ridge at its forward section, deeply struck barrelsmith's mark above the breech; no sights; small right-hand side touch hole, the original pan trough removed; the barrel segmented in three stages by a roped frieze at about one third of its length, and another immediately in front of the short, swamped muzzle section with bell-mouthed muzzle. Rectangular recoil hook.
Retaining its original oak? wood full stock with slightly downcurved buttstock, attached by two iron bands, their ends intertwined at the bottom; the buttstock branded with the initials DK, its rear end a replacement.
Overall length 148 cm, bore 34 mm.

As those Late-Gothic barrels usually feature much thicker barrel walls and somewhat smaller bores (ca. 22-26 mm), I think that that barrel has been drilled out to its present bore during the late Thirty Years War, ca. 1645.

Hermann Historica, 23 April 2012, lot 33.