Brass Miniature Artillery Cannon

[TheHorticulturist]

Hello all,

With thrift stores opening back up in my area finally, it's back to the antiquities and oddities hunting. Came across this little guy yesterday at a GoodWill, and for only a few dollars! Thought I would share



From what I can find around, this was either hand made or part of a Naval Miniature set. The cannon itself is drop forged brass, and can fire! ( realised this after getting her home and cleaning her a bit, she has a tiny ignition hole on the rear end and apparent burn residue on the inside.)




Sadly, no maker's mark to be found on it, aside from what I believe is a British naval seal on the cannon. But it is quite well made and detailed. If any one has any ideas or has seen anything similar, Im always happy to listen.






Not gold or silver, but a unique find for sure!
Happy hunting, everyone!

-Jonny

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

Diving for Pleasure and Treasure - Grab it through Amazon!

[A2coins]

That is an awesome score there was a post a few days ago about one of those mini canons Im glad you got it hope you get some info there were lots of replies to the one a few days ago........Im glad they are opening also
I love searching those places.......Tommy

 

[gunsil]

This is another modern decorator piece. The barrel is cast, it is not drop forged. The trunions are overly long and thin which is a tell tale sign of modern decorator pieces. Most antique model cannons are much more realistic with trunions that are properly scaled to real cannon dimensions. Can you blow in the muzzle and have air come out the touch hole? I think the bore is cast in rather than machine bored and if that is the case it is VERY dangerous to try to fire. A lot of these are made in Spain where the carriages can be made with cheap labor. It would not be part of any "naval set", it is a model field artillery piece, naval cannons never have field carriages.

 

[TheHorticulturist]

I appreciate your input. Air flows through the muzzle to the touch hole and it appears to be machined. I will have to argue this being a 'modern decorator' piece though. There isn't a modern screw or nail in it, the others I've seen don't have anywhere near the level of detail the carriage has, even with cheap labor I dont see them making thousands of these easily, on top of several imperfections in parts indicating hand-carving and assembly. Thank you for the information though!

 

[Red-Coat]

It's very similar to this one, which despite its rustic appearance and artisanal construction was made in the 1960s and sold as a 'paperweight'/desk ornament:



It also has a theoretical possibility of being fired since it has a touch hole that goes through to the barrel (unwisely, as said). From a tourist shop in Toledo, Spain.

 

[gunsil]

The carriage is similar but the tube appears to be identical with the silly long indents in between the trunions which no real cannon ever had. I have collected small antique cannons for years and I remember a lot of these Spanish models around in the 1970s, still see them including the OP piece. The skinny overly long trunions are the defining "tell" on the tube, just didn't happen on the antique versions. Cool little model, just not an antique or something one should load and fire. If the OP piece had really been fired I would expect to see the green corrosion around the muzzle as well as the touch hole. Looks to me like somebody just lit a fuse without a load in the tube. Whether it has or not I still would not recommend trying it.