Does anyone have any information regarding the dating of the MRL German Warhammer or photos of the original on which it's based? Thanks!

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Oakeshott has a chapter dedicated to hammers, but I don't have that book on hand at the moment. Blair's European and American Weapons is another possibility. I'd guess that it's 1450-1550. By the way, this reproduction is based on a weapon in Nuremberg, as is MRL's very attractive new horseman's axe of ca. 1575 (that date according to the catalog). It's at right in the photo below.:

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Hey, Chad! I found one that's not terribly far removed from the MRL--compact head, thick, short pick, stubby hammer. I'd still guess that the MRL would be a bit earlier.

This is hammer of ca.1550. Length: 490 mm. Width: 115 mm

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Sean,
Thanks for the info. I guess the form of the MRL hammer makes it an Oakeshott Type H1 warhammer, then, right? I'm trying to figure out what part of what century that hammer fits. :)

I'll make a note to check Blair tonight.

No photos in Blair. However, Blood Red Roses reproduces artwork showing a very similar hammer, and indicates that the illus. is last quarter of the 15th c. Peterson's Book of the Gun has a photo of a very similar hammer with some other items identified as "14th and 15th century" arms and armour. The Oakeshott H1 seems to originate mid 15th c. So, it looks to me like this particular hammer would be 1475-1500, maybe spilling over into the early 16th c.
Let's say 1488...July...10:17 A.M.... :lol:

PSA - note that MRL has discontinued the German warhammer. There's one more production run/shipment coming in, and then that's the last of them.

Here's a blast from the past (an old thread), but I found a hammer with a lot of similarities to the MRL version.

I found it in Rossi's Mediaeval Arms and Armour. It lists it as being Italian and from ~1430. It's house in the Armeria Reale, Turin.

The langets are obviously quite different from MRL's version, but the head has some similarities.

I think MRL plans to discontinue this one, as Hal noted, but it was still in the catalogue I got a couple of weeks ago.

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