Vezető a Déri Múzeum kiállításaihoz II. A Déri gyűjtemények. 2. javított kiadás (Debrecen, 2001)

129 WEAPONS IN THE DÉRI COLLECTION therefore, their name is "misericord"--mercy dagger. Among shooting weapons, a very old type is the cross-bow. The ones displayed in the upper row are from the 15th century. Later these weapons lost their importance as arms and from the 17th century on they became hunting weapons. In the gallery, there are also small guns and pistols on display. The decoration of the wheel-lock pistols is typical. In the middle of the gallery, there is a very interesting piece of weaponry, the so-called "toyor", which is a decorated war hammer with a bullet-shooting mechanism. The piece from the 17th century is a hatchet, a gun, and a dagger in one. The next unit is made up of equestrian equipment, with the indispensable saddle. The complementary part of the saddle is the stirrup. Among the stirrups exhibited, the earliest pieces are the so-called Maximilian stirrups. The bits served the purposes of directing the horse. Near the gag bit, which was widely used in Europe, there is a typical Hungarian bit, the so-called papilionaceae bit, which is a development of an old Hungarian type, the horse bit. The spur also is an important piece of equestrian equipment. Among the spurs exhibited, the earliest piece is from the 12th— 13th centuries, from the Romanesque Age. The weapons collection of the Déri Museum also contains weapons from the Middle East and the Far East. We have Albanian, Turkish, and Persian weapons, decorated poniards, daggers, and swords in our collection. From the Far East, the museum has Japanese weapons. The guns, bows, and the lances are from the 19th century, the samurai armors are from the 18th—19th centuries. In the last gallery, there are Indian weapons, including guns, swords, hatchets, and an executioner's sword with silver and golden decorations.