3-070-516 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The "Holy-Water Sprinkler" (mace, combined with four pistol-barrels), 15th century, (1881). 'A handsome volume bearing [the] title "The Gun and its Development", with the addition of "Notes on Shooting," by Mr. W. W. Greener, of Birmingham, gun manufacturer, has been published by Messrs. Cassell, Petter, and Galpin... The curious and fantastic combinations of other weapons with guns or pistols were much in vogue four centuries ago. One example is the iron mace, with four pistol-barrels at the striking end, which was also studded with nails or spikes. This was profanely called "the holy-water sprinkler".' From "Illustrated London News", 1881.