Tschinke (wheel-lock hunting rifle)
Date1663
Mediumsteel (once blued), iron, ivory, horn, mother-of-pearl, brass and walnut wood
Dimensions117.5 × 92.7 cm (46 1/4 × 36 1/2 in.), 6 lb, 15 oz (weight)
ClassificationsArms and Armor
MarkingsOn buttplate are the date "1663" and the owner's(?) initials "CMK." See digital file.
Credit LineThe John Woodman Higgins Armory Collection
Object number2014.375
DescriptionSilesia (probably Teschen), modern Poland/Czech Republic. Full-length "German"-style walnut stock (see Blackmore, #903) of polyhedral section at the butt, & decorated in traditional Silesian manner with inlays of engraved ivory, horn & mother-of-pearl in strips, foliate tendrils, globose swellings, game animals and hunting dogs, zoo- and anthropomorphic designs, and musicians. Butt-trap on obverse. Horn butt-cap engraved with date, initials & Pan-like creature playing horn; iron spherical bumper. Stock has been modified to accommodate different lock. 2 squarish blocks have been fitted at lockplate terminals to mount the new lock.
Lock of enclosed-wheel type with no external components. Edges of plate are beveled & rounded at ends. Raised wheel cover incised with worn wreath-like design. Jaws of cock & external spring, pan-cover & flash guard are also incised with scrolled foliate motifs.
There is an elongated, heart-shaped & pierced set-trigger, together with a hair-trigger, & adjusting screw. Trigger-guard is shaped to fingers & fitted with sling loop. Another "U"-shaped loop near front of stock, and was possibly to retain the ramrod in its slot.
Barrel with breech plug is half octagonal in section, of once-blued steel, and rounded on the underside, & flared slightly at muzzle. 3 welded "ears" along lower face secure barrel to stock. Sights consist of a brass-alloy foresight & folding-blade iron rearsight with decorative acanthus terminal.
Label TextWhen the hunter was ready to fire, he pulled the larger trigger, thereby activating the thinner "hair" trigger. The slightest pressure on this trigger enabled him to fire the weapon without spoiling his aim. On the butt cap are the engraved letters "CMK," probably those of the owner or the stock decorator. ProvenancePurchased by the Armory in December, 1970 from the estate of Milton R. MacIntosh (Cranston, R.I.) his #251. Collection transfer from Higgins Armory, January 2014.
On View
Not on viewCollections
late 1700s-early 1800s
