Italian ammunition belt 17th
 

This is an Italian ammunition belt for a machlock circa 1600. What are these small wallets for? Any ther comments?

I think that each of this mall tanks contained the load of powder for one shot for a matchlock or a wheellock gun, certainly not for military but for chasing purpose

Iron and tinder. And cord.

Amazing this belt still exists and with the holders too!
Rarely see any of these.

Sure thing, Will.

I Think this is a military item. A hunter would just have a powder flask to put the black powder in the gun, not "ready to use" gunpowder holders.

A bit atypical for Europe. Is there any provenance to confirm the origin?

Ι bought it from Italy!

Personally, I think it's from somewhat further east, and is nonetheless a very fine thing to have in a collection.

i agree. The clue may be a number of quite modern looking extemporary repairs which imply it was in active use until fairly recently . Makes me think Tibet ? Here is a Chinese gentleman . Same general idea .

By searching on the net i found a similar set, sold some years ago from Italy with the following description: A Musketeer's bandoleer dating: 17th Century provenance: Europe Leather belt with brass buckle; provided with a leather purse and eleven wooden flasks for powder doses, held together with leather straps. Small defects and damages. dimensions: length circa 97 cm.

Great find :cool: -

Could that be a Chinese communist party buckle ?

This image Described as 18 C Europe . Buckle later

Stuff travels, loses its history and dealers will tell the story that sells for the best price, and when I see a modern buckle on something it tells me that it was still in use when the buckle was put on!
I really like the ammo belt and it's certainly collectable.... but you don't want to be paying a 17thC Italian price for a more recent Eastern or African item. I suggest putting it on the Ethnic forum and seeing what they say. I suspect a country with Italian colonial connections if we have two turning up in Italy.
Below a provenanced 17C European bandoleer..

Good idea, i will put it there! Thanks for your input.