A Rare and Complete Bavarian Haquebut Wall Gun (Doppelhaken), ca. 1490

[Matchlock]

... failed to sell in yesterday's Hermann Historica sale in Munich.

Their catalog description dated the piece a bit too late.

Late-15th c. barrels of this shape and decorations are known to have been largely produced in Nuremberg workshops and were soon copied by Tyrolean gun smiths like the Pögl family in Thörl, by order of the Maximilian armories.

The heavy, three-stage, octagonal wrought-iron barrel without sights, with right-hand touch-hole (the former pan obviously removed), a roped frieze marking the second stage, changing flats in the forward section, and with short, swamped muzzle section accentuated by another roped frieze. The stout hook seems to retain much of its original surface, including some minium paint.
Fixed to its original oaken (?) full stock by two broad iron straps in a way that, just as would be the case with a leather strap, one end is put thru a loop in the other end and flattened.
This is a feature which only has come to my knowledge on Bavarian haquebuts, e.g. in the museums of Schrobenhausen, Ingolstadt (on haquebuts from Schrobenhausen) and Kastl near Amberg.

The barrel obviously cleaned bright in the past (which is a pity as the hook denotes that it was originally painted red with minium) and showing new rust in places, the end of the slightly down-curved butt stock replaced.

Overall length 148 cm, the unusually large bore of 34 mm (!) probably enlarged during the 1640's (late Thirty Years War period). Comparisons with characteristic 'Maximilian' period barrels prove that they originally had an average bore of ca. 20-24 mm, and at the same time much thicker barrel walls.


Attachments at bottom show the characteristically 'folded' iron barel straps on contemporary Bavarian (Schrobenhausen) haquebuts.


m

[Matchlock]

I noticed it has been marked 'sold' meanwhile.

[Matchlock]

It might also be Austrian as I found out that 'folded' iron straps also occur on haquebuts in Austrian and Swiss collections; as the barrels all have Nuremberg workshop marks it cannot be exluded that they were stocked in Nuremberg and delivered as complete guns.

m

[fernando]

Hi Michl,
Not wishing to go off topic but, these stocks, which i assume are the original; so interestingly stylized !!
Fantastic .

.

[Matchlock]

They indeed are, 'Nando,


And what's more, they are well documented in early-16th c. period artwork; from top:

- painting Die Schlacht im Walde, Nuremberg, which took place on June 19, 1502; dated 1502, Germanisches Nationalmuseum; author's photos

- Diebold Schilling, Luzerner Chronik, 1513 (image at bottom)


Best,
Michl