Thank you very much Merv for your kind words. It is indeed a pleasure to share my pictures with my friends here.

I have been very busy writing my second book, and also a number of offers for different print magazines in Europe and North America, hence my absence here. I have not forgotten to take pictures though.

I start with some firearms. I travel to Paris regularly and will take more next time.

Kind regards
Manouchehr

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Sorry Something went wrong. More.

Regards
Manouchehr

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Manouchehr;

Thank you VERY much for posting these photo's of late-16th/early-17th Century firearms. These are indeed my real passion, and it's wonderful to see photo's of such arms that I have not seen before. It is greatly appreciated, and I would very much enjoy any others you may wish to post.

Thank you again, kind Sir, for this attention.

Cheers!

Gordon

Manouchehr;

Thank you very much! It is very much appreciated!

Cheers!

Gordon

Last picture for this set. More to come later my friends

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OK my friends let us continue. If you have any input on these guns, I would be very happy to learn. Thanks.

Kind regards
Manouchehr

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Manouchehr;

Again, thank you for the wonderful photographs. It's always nice to see items that aren't pictured in every book out there!

Per your question, the mass of the wheellock pistols (and carbines as well) shown in your photo's of the display are of German, or at least Germanic, style. The ball-butt "Puffer" was a very popular weapon, and many show the full flowering of Mannerist art with not only the rich inlays of bone and ivory, but also in the basic form of the ball-butt. Contrary to popular belief though, the ball was not a form of a club, but at best to provide a firm purchase for pulling the pistol from the saddle holster while wearing heavy gauntlets.

I do wish to point out something of interest, which is that while the pistols shown for the most part in the later photo's are all German, many of the earlier photo's are of French-style pistols and carbines. The detached lockplate will show the difference. This is the French-style lock, with the much larger mainspring showing from the back, with a very small lockplate:
[ Linked Image ]

And here is the lock mounted on a weapon:
[ Linked Image ]

It makes for a very much smaller lockplate, and for a much more graceful stock than the German-style locks which had the mainspring mounted on the lockplate. Here is one of the photo's of German-style locks mounted on their pistols:
[ Linked Image ]

The German style is probably quite a bit stronger, but the French-style is certainly more graceful. One may note that most 17th-Century wheellocks, while using the German-style mechanism with the mainspring fixed to the lockplate, had a very French-style stock with the deep belly to correspond to the depth of the wheel, so though the French version of the wheellock didn't spread far, the basic look of it did.

Cheers!

Gordon

Gordon,

Excellent information. Thank you very much my friend for sharing this information.

Kind regards
Manouchehr

Hi Gordon,

Could you please describe the following pieces as well? Thanks my friend.

Kind regards
Manouchehr

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Gordon,

Thank you very much my friend. Really amazing. Thanks

Kind regards
Manouchehr

More pictures. Gordon, I really appreciate your input on these as well


Kind regards
Manouchehr

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WOW! More VERY nice pistols! I would venture that the top one's are mostly French, or made with French-style locks, while one of the lower pistols (with the ivory butt-cap) is probably Dutch, with its own style of lock which took from both the French (in style and grace) and the German (which was much stronger a lock). They ended up with VERY slender pistols, very graceful yet fairly strong.

The very long graceful pistols which look to be in the center of the case (with fishtail butts) are probably French, but whether or not they have the lemon-butt or fishtail-butt on the stock, the French pistols are gorgeous! The pistols with the large, lozenge-shaped lockplates are more than likely German in origin.

There are also a pair of pistols which are probably German, and almost look as though they have a period "rifle" stock on them (the rifles of the day didn't have the "normal" buttstock, but were made to be held against the cheek, rather than the shoulder). They may well be rifled pistols, and intended to be, like the larger rifles, fired while at rest against the cheek.

The very bottom pistols with the heavy butts are probably VERY late-17th Century, as most of the architecture is that of a flintlock, rather than a wheellock. Perhaps they are Swedish issue? And the combination flintlock-axe could be from one of many different origins. Perhaps Eastern German, or Swedish, or even Polish. Hard to tell from the photo, but interesting none the less.

Very nice photo's, yet again! I look forward to more!

Cheers!

Gordon

:) Oh wow.
I have just returned from a 40 hour business-trip to Paris, during which I had the opportunity to visit this wonderful museum.

I have especially enjoyed the large number of relatively well-preserved swords and rapiers. I just wanted to thank you people here for awaking my interest in this wonderful place. I will certainly visit it again, when I have more time.

Regards and thanks again.

Micha

Thank you Gordon and Jean for your excellent feedback and information. i really appreciate it and very informative. Micha you are very welcome. This museum is really wonderful.

Regards
Manouchehr