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Reference Image - Not for Reproduction
Combined Spanner and Powder Measure for a Wheel-Lock Firearm
Reference Image - Not for Reproduction
Image © Worcester Art Museum, all rights reserved.

Combined Spanner and Powder Measure for a Wheel-Lock Firearm

Culture
Dateabout 1625
Mediumiron and brass
Dimensions26.7 × 18.1 cm (10 1/2 × 7 1/8 in.), 4 oz (weight)
ClassificationsArms and Armor
MarkingsHAM accession number in black on handle.
Credit LineThe John Woodman Higgins Armory Collection
Object number2014.512
DescriptionSpanner proper is formed of 1 piece of iron. Head of tri-lobate form, punched with 3 square holes, each 7 or 8 mm across. Head terminates in screwdriver head with lobated base. Base assembly developed as octagonal-section shaft recurved crank-like to balustered basal swelling. Moulding transversely pierced for oblate, open swivel-ring, apparently restored. Remainder of shaft below is square-section, with strip of iron riveted near moulding. Strip serves to provide tension on sliding handle. Shaft main face is incised with numbers 1-12 in ascending order to end of shaft which is fitted with circular, slotted washer. Each numeral is separated from its neighbor with vertical cut; blocks thus formed are divided further with pair of "V"-shaped nicks to either side of shaft. Octagonal, hollow iron sleeve of 1 brass-braised piece, slides full-length along spanner, thus forming powder measure.
Label TextA wheel-lock firearm had to be spanned--given a short wind with a special wrench called a spanner. This particular example incorporates a measuring device for a charge of gunpowder in the hollow handle.ProvenanceUnknown. Purchased by Museum on 27 January 1934 from Theodore Offerman of York Galleries (NYC). Collection trasnfer from Higgins Armory, January 2014.
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