A RARE GERMAN EMBOSSED STEEL CARTRIDGE BOX (PATRON), CIRCA 1580, PROBABLY BRUNSWICK with wooden body of plano-convex section, the interior with provision for four cartridges and fitted with a pierced brass top-plate, the outside almost entirely encased in blackened steel embossed with patterns of beadwork rosettes on a field of minute nodules (one very small dent), outwardly flanged at the base and decorated en suite, retaining its original leather covering on the underside and the back, fitted with matching hinged lid with button closure, a single loop for suspension, two loops for a belt, and retaining an early leather suspension and buckle 14cm; 5 1/2in high A very similar patron is preserved in the Landeszeughaus, Graz (inv. no. PK72). Two patrons and a powder-flask decorated in a related manner were included in the sale of Works of Art from the Royal House of Hanover, Sotheby's 2005, lots 339, 340 and 342. The treatment of these pieces is similar to the stocks of contemporary Brunswick firearms. In 1589 Andreas Krebs, a Carinthian leather-worker, delivered '200 Braunschweig boxes with wooden cartridges at 28 kreuzer each to the Landeszeughaus Graz. See P. Krenn 1990, p.22