A great man has walked the line

[AHorsa]

Very sad to hear that. A great loss. Ruhe in Frieden Michael.

[batjka]

This is extremely sad news indeed. This forum will never be the same without Matchlock's expertise. He was a unique man and with his passing so much knowledge is now lost. But his spirit is still with us and his posts will remain as a source of learning and as a memory of a great man that once was with us. Rest in peace, Michael. You will be dearly missed.

[fernando]

Amen

[Hotspur]

This World is not Conclusion.
A Species stands beyond -
Invisible, as Music -
But positive, as Sound -
~Emily Dickinson~

Esperance en dieu

I did not know him aside from his contributions here. A toast to all collectors and this community of sharing like information.

Huzzah!

GC

[fernando]

Tchin tchin

[Jim McDougall]

Originally Posted by batjka

This is extremely sad news indeed. This forum will never be the same without Matchlock's expertise. He was a unique man and with his passing so much knowledge is now lost. But his spirit is still with us and his posts will remain as a source of learning and as a memory of a great man that once was with us. Rest in peace, Michael. You will be dearly missed.

Well said! as are all these wonderful tributes to this man who truly loved this forum and openly shared his knowledge and lifetime of collecting and study. Actually much of the knowledge he shared is still here in these pages, and I can only imagine in the many personal contacts he had with others. I know I still have many notes and communications we had over the years, and truly treasure them as I look back to those days.
His spirit stands as an inspiration to keep searching and compiling data to continue learning and understanding the arms we collect and cherish.

Thank you Fernando for placing this tribute thread in permanent heading status, as it is well deserved.

[fernando]

Let's stick it for a while longer.

[stekemest]

So sad to hear that. He once asked me to show my "Klotzgeschoss" (clot shot), but I couldn't find it at the time. Strangely, a few days ago, I remembered his request and intended to finally make a few pictures, only to stumble upon this thread.

My condolences to his family and friends.

[Marcus den toom]

Hi Stekemest,

Don't feel bad about not beeing able to show the clod shot to Michl himself, non of us would have expected him to die this sudden. It really came as a shock, he was doing better and multiple members including myself noticed that he was full of energy the last few weeks and days before his tragic passing. When i called him just a few days before his death he was talking about a powder flask he had found in a Dutch museum, he really liked to have pictures of it and i was more than happy to get them for him... and i still will, not only for him but for all of the forum members. I think that is what Michl would have wanted and what we owe him for all his own contributions, to continue the reseach.
So if you feel up to it, you may still post those images i for one am very curious about them.

best Marcus

[Jim McDougall]

Marcus and Stekemest, thank you for your thoughtful insights and Marcus you are exactly right, Michael would indeed wish to have his work carried forward!
He was very much an inspiration in his lifetime of work, and especially the relatively short time we had him here with us, so his legacy is with us and these pages.

[batjka]

For those in the know, what will be the fate of his unique collection? I sure hope that a museum acquires it as a whole and puts it on display.

[fernando]

That appears to be a distant solution, so far !

[MiracleChild]

I've never posted here before, but the main reason I joined this forum was reading Matchlock's posts. I hope to write historical fiction set during the Italian wars, and Matchlock's posts were absolutely invaluable to me; his detailed explanations and pictures from his collections beat absolutely anything I could find on the web or in bookshops.

So sorry to hear of his passing, and sad that I never got to exchange messages with him directly.

[Tordenskiold1721]

My motivation for joining this forum was Michael's educational contributions.

[fernando]

He would be 63 years old, today.
Let not the earth be heavy on him.

[Andi]

Happy birthday dear friend! I'll drink my leasure time beer (German: Feierabendbierchen) in remembrance of thee!

Prosit!

[kronckew]

have a horn or so for me too.

have you been promoted to head armourer in valhalla yet? i hear the young fraulein assistants are a nice perk.

[Dmitry]

A sad passing, no doubt. Just stumbled upon this thread. Michl was the most knowledgeable and generous cat. I wish he had transferred his vast knowledge of early firearms to paper. Recent passing of Bill Gikerson is at least somewhat buttressed by his indispensable Boarders Away volumes. I wonder if Matchlock was working on a book...

[fernando]

I think the only book he published was not about early firearms but about early iron works and furniture, another one of his hobbies:

http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...highlight=book

Apparently he preferred to be generous enough to transfer the knowledge he gathered to the (this) forum but didn't care about putting it down on books

[Ed]

I just popped by after a very long absence and I saw "Deceased" under Michael's name. I have not communicated with Michael for a couple of years so I had no idea. I am shocked.

I met Michael thru some mutual internet acquaintances in the early 2000's. We characterized ourselves (being collectors in one of the more arcane areas of collecting) as Whales lost in a sea that make odd noises to find each other. He'd sign himself "Your fellow whale".

He was a great help to me and actually went to Nuremberg on my behalf to bid at an auction at Hermann Historica. He got me a Dopplehacken that is the second oldest dated firearm in existence. He was a giving guy with his time and his expertise.

In the mid 2000's we collaborated on writing a book on early gunpowder weapons. We got to a point where we had a manuscript and were passing it around to various publishers. We had interest from a couple but there was another one out there and that put things on the back burner. Unfortunately life happened and we did not pursue it. It might be worth dusting it off.

I introduced him to this forum back in 2008 I guess. I thought that "he had to get out more" and that his knowledge needed an outlet. Based on the quantity and quality of his postings, I think I was correct.

I recall asking him what sort of gun he would like to own/shoot that he didn't have. His answer was a Peacemaker! Surprised me. I told him that if he could get over here I would happily arrange for him to shoot one for as long as he liked.

Anyway, I am saddened. Even though he and I fell out of touch, I considered him a friend and I will miss him.

Rest well Michael.