Early Gunpowder and Incendiary Arms
Traces early chemical propellants, primitive personal firearms, and incendiary battlefield weapons before mass standardization.
Inside this collection
Hand Cannons and Early Gonnes
Examines fourteenth-century cast bronze and wrought iron barrels, socketed poles, and touchhole ignition.
Matchlock Arquebuses and Muskets
Covers serpentine locks, snap matches, matchlock musketry, and European and Ottoman field applications.
East Asian Matchlocks and Fire Lances
Details Song dynamic fire spears, Ming multi-tube guns, and Tanegashima arquebuses adopted in Japan.
Wheelock Mechanisms and Pistols
Explores friction-pyrite locks, spanners, cavalry wheellock petronels, and rifled sporting barrels.
Early Modern Flintlocks and Snaphaunces
Traces flint-on-steel ignition systems, battery springs, and seventeenth-century transitional infantry muskets.
Bombards and Heavy Siege Ordnance
Covers hooped wrought iron bombards, stone shot ballistics, and large-caliber Turkish bronze cannons.
Incendiary Mixtures and Delivery Devices
Investigates petroleum-based combustibles, ceramic fire pots, and the disputed chemical makeup of Greek fire.
Powder Flasks, Primers, and Artillery Gear
Examines spanners, horn flasks, wooden apostolic chargers, wads, and measuring tools of the early gunner.
Legendary objects deserve
a closer reading.
We study materials, makers and surviving evidence. Legends open the question; history guides the answer.
Our approach