Matchlock Musket

Dateabout 1675

Mediumsteel, iron and wood

Dimensions177.8 × 134.6 cm (70 × 53 in.), 15 lb 4 oz (weight)

ClassificationsArms and Armor

MarkingsTop flat of barrel at breech with undentified maker's initials ".I.C.". Top left flat with stamped Wiener-Neustadt mark consisting of crowned "L" within oval. On the middle of the lockplate, above and to the rear of the pivot screw, is a group of four cut notches in a row. On the breech of the musket barrel itself is a Wiener-Neustadt mark which appears in Neue Stockel as no. 1767 (3.1721), given as c. 1675. See digital file.

Credit LineThe John Woodman Higgins Armory Collection

Terms

Object number2014.616

Description2-stage smoothbore barrel, 19 mm bore (.75 caliber). Octagonal at breech to mid-length becoming circular in section, stages set off by low molded band. Barrel secured by 4 pins. Fixed thick blade foresight & fixed rear flanged sight; thick heart-shaped piece of iron with V-shaped notch.

Sear-matchlock ignition with flat lockplate rounded at ends.

Full-length walnut stock with massive deep rectangular section butt, notched at wrist. Stock with iron bands, forecap & 1 barrel band near muzzle. Wooden ramrod with iron cap.

Deep curved iron trigger guard & iron buttplate extending onto comb of stock. Oblong iron lockplate of flat section, rounded at the ends where it is pierced for the mounting screws.

At about mid-length on the inside face is pivoted a flattened S-shaped sear lever, the forward half of which is supported by a thin iron spring. One end of the sear lever is drawn out as a right-angled extension for the trigger and the other end has a short lug which engages a rectangular slot cut into a tumbler that pivots on the match holder, or serpentine. The latter is curved, with a bifurcated end of zoomorphic profile. It is fitted with a reverse-action wing-screw with heart-shaped end.

Pressure on the trigger pushes up on the rear of the sear lever. This pivots, see-saw-like, at mid-length, pressing down on the spring, and pulling down on the tumbler. As this pivots downward, the match-holder is drawn rearward, pulling the match into the barrel-mounted pan filled with priming powder. When the trigger is released, the tension of the spring forces the sear-lever back to its original position and the match-holder away from the pan.
ProvenanceMax Williams (NY) purchased by John W. Higgins on March 7, 1928 from Anderson Galleries (NY), sale no. 2243, lot no. 34. Given to the Museum on January 8, 1947. Collection transfer from Higgins Armory, January 2014.

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