German Horsemans axe of 16th century?

[kronckew]

I considered the 'Halberd' style, but the apparent size is wrong, my Indian Sindh spike/dagger axe (the pommel unscrews into a dagger) looks about the right size head - some came with back spikes instead of spikey trunk elephants, but has a much longer haft. It's top spike is also fairly useless.

Doubt it's an Ankh, they were very specifically made with a spike and hook, no axe blade. The Hook was for guiding an elephant's trunk, while the spike was used to euthanize the elly if it went berserk and attacked its own side, it was driven into the elephant's spine just behind its head with a hammer which was part of an ankh weapon system. Again, OP's axe is too small & the haft end unsuitable for hammering and the spike wouldn't kill anything -it'd likely make an elly rather angry... The chain on a pommel ring is another anomaly. who want's a sharp axe with pointy spikes swinging around on the end of a chain near them? If it had a weight on the end of a longer chain, would it be a Japanese kusari-ono?

I add my French fire axe below, probably also of similar size to the OP one, it looks almost exactly like a french boarding axe, but doesn't have the belt hook and the haft is a few inches too short.

(don't have or want an ankh because it is sole purposed to kill elephants.)

All in all indeed an enigma hidden inside a conundrum.

p.s. - if the OP's axe turns out to be 2-3ft. long in the haft and weighs a kilo or so, I may be more inclined to refer to it as a 'battle axe'. for now, i'll think of it as a Texas battle-tomahawk.

[fernando]

Has anyone already suggested a pole weapon head... adapted to a shorter handle ? The possible (modern) writing on the langet is not a good sign, though.

[CSinTX]

Agree with the others. It appears to be a weapon but I've not seen anything like it. A close up of the chain might give some clues.

Welcome from another Texas member. What part of the state are you in? I'm in B/CS.

[Elmereya]

pictures from the theme about the weapons of the landsknechts.
gorgeous tool.
with respect.

[kronckew]

Interesting pry bar finial, presumably for prying open a gap to skewer an opponent inside their armour.

Looks a lot bigger than the subject Texas tomahawk. Looks like it has a rather nasty crack in it too.

I wonder how that guy breathes in that fancy suit. Reminds me of a Victorian whalebone corset.


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[Elmereya]

Beautiful picture from the 15th century

[kronckew]

Warhammers. beq de corbin/lucerne hammers

[Philip]

Originally Posted by kronckew

Interesting pry bar finial, presumably for prying open a gap to skewer an opponent inside their armour.

Looks a lot bigger than the subject Texas tomahawk. Looks like it has a rather nasty crack in it too.

I wonder how that guy breathes in that fancy suit. Reminds me of a Victorian whalebone corset.


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Would help to have some identification of the painting, artist, date. To rule out it being, say, a Victorian-era historicism.

That implement the guy is carrying reminds me of a slightly fancier version of a box hatchet, complete with the pry/nail puller finial, in the catalog of a tool distributor who imports them from India.

Haha, breathing in that outfit ... maybe, like ladies in the antebellum South, they carried vials of smelling salts to revive themselves after frequent swooning due to lack of air!

[fernando]

Originally Posted by Philip

... Haha, breathing in that outfit ... maybe, like ladies in the antebellum South, they carried vials of smelling salts to revive themselves after frequent swooning due to lack of air!