Firearms — 19th century — 1820s
About this product
About this collection
This collection covers 140 firearms from the 1820s, delivered across 429 images in 37 ZIP assets. The 1820s is the decade in which Alexander Forsyth's percussion cap innovation began its slow adoption into mainstream military and civilian use, while the perfected flintlock designs of the Napoleonic era remained dominant. The collection captures this transitional moment with weapons representing both old and emerging technologies.
Why it matters
The 1820s marks the beginning of the end for flintlock firearms — a technology that had served European warfare for 200 years. The gradual adoption of percussion ignition through this decade would transform firearms reliability, particularly in wet conditions that rendered flintlocks inoperable.
Use cases & time to value
- Game & film production design: Accurate period reference for 1820s-era weapons in historical games, film, and television
- AI training data: Large labelled firearms dataset for object-recognition, period-classification, and type-identification models
- Military history research: Primary visual source for comparative study of 1820s firearms technology and design evolution
- Publishing & editorial: Ready-to-license imagery for histories, encyclopaedias, and military reference works
- Museum education: Accessible digital collection for academic and public programming on 1820s arms development
Data schema
| Field | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| object_number | string | Royal Armouries catalogue number (XII. prefix + sequence) |
| object_name | string | Standardised object type name as catalogued |
| class | string | XII (Firearms) |
| period | string | 1820s |
| image_filename | string | Original filename as catalogued by the museum |
| image_format | string | tif (archival high-res), jpg (catalogue), or bmp (legacy) |
| width_px | integer | Image width in pixels |
| height_px | integer | Image height in pixels |
| file_size_bytes | integer | Uncompressed file size in bytes |
Collection stats
37 assets · 140 objects · 429 images · 1820s
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