Big Bang at the farm today!!!

ModernMiner · Mar 27, 2007

I felt like I was at Toys-R-Us at lunch today at the farm. While working a section of the hill pictured behind the house, I hit on a patch of toys buried about 6" down. The toys Ridley and I have found in the past have been Tootsie Toys and soldiers from the 1940's. Today was no exception.

I dug up what looked to be a futuristic looking car/truck. It still has all four tires, but both axle rods are snapped in two. Cool looking anyways. Any idea on this one?

Then I dug up a Jeep (?). This one had no tires.

My next toy I didn't know what it was at first, and almost left it buried in the ground with all the other rusty farm iron I have dug. (plow pieces, horseshoes, hoes, etc)
Well I'm glad I dug it up, because it turned out to be an old toy Big Bang 6F cannon from the late 1930's I believe. The kicker is, I had found the other wheel and igniter about two months ago closer to the house. I almost threw the wheel away last week thinking I would never need it.

Here is the igniter post I had put in the "what is it" section:
http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,71574.0.html

Here is an original Big Bang 6F canon with the original box I found on E-bay:
http://cgi.ebay.com/1935-Big-Bang-6...20091304945QQcategoryZ721QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

I think I will reattach the wheel back on, spray the cannon with some stop-rust, and then leave it as-is. It looks very rustic in it's present state.

I think there are more toys on that hill, I just ran out of time. I need a 2 hour lunch.

Thanks for looking,
MM

Ridley · Mar 27, 2007

You did great today MM!

The futuristic car is the best! Those lunchtime hunts are very productive. I'm glad you saved the other parts of the cannon.

Now when strangers ask "Ever find anything good?" You can tell them you found a cannon!

For anyone who might be interested. The area featured in those photos has very soft black dirt, but there are tree roots everywhere !

It still is (The metal detecting garden of eden) though.

Congratulations!

Ridley

garbage digger · Mar 27, 2007

Hey that is one neat little cannon. Great find!

dave-enc · Mar 28, 2007

those are too cool MM wtg
hh
dave+bobbie

ModernMiner · Mar 28, 2007

Charlie P. (NY) said:
I'd say tha Big Bang is from the 50's. I had one otherwise identical from the 60's except it had rubber wheels. The hole on the tailpiece held the carbide ("Bangsite") and had a rubber stopper. The breech is the igniter piece that used Ronstan cylindrical flints and a push striker and had a tiny cup that dumped the carbide onto the cannon when you gave it a 1/3 +/- turn to lock it(it has an internal water tank: carbide + water = acetelene gas).

Don't put an ounce of carbide in to get a bigger bang. Been there, done that, never found all the cannon pieces. Still have all my fingers so I made out, however.

Thanks Charlie. I saw the rubber wheeled ones on E-bay too. The one I had found that looked like mine they had on E-bay listed as 1935. (see the link in my original post up top)
So any idea how long they made this 6F model? If it is from the 50's , and the E-bay one is from 1935, that's at least 15+ years. My igniter was the same color as the one on E-bay.
Thanks,
MM
P.S. I will NOT be trying to fire this thing.

Salvager · Mar 28, 2007

Nice find! Simply amazing you found the other two parts earlier! Great stuff!

Have fun,
Salvager

diggndeep · Mar 28, 2007

Awesome finds, I had one of those cannons as a kid in the early 50's. Keep up with the great finds. DD

Mirage · Mar 28, 2007

Cool stuff. Maybe even better than old coins of that era. Coarse it depends on the coins....

Love the toy pickup truck. Very sweet. Good pics too.

What a great site you have.

Bob

KenPa · Mar 28, 2007

Nice finds, Love the cannon

Charlie P. (NY) · Mar 28, 2007

ModernMiner said:
Charlie P. (NY) said:

I'd say tha Big Bang is from the 50's. I had one otherwise identical from the 60's except it had rubber wheels. The hole on the tailpiece held the carbide ("Bangsite") and had a rubber stopper. The breech is the igniter piece that used Ronstan cylindrical flints and a push striker and had a tiny cup that dumped the carbide onto the cannon when you gave it a 1/3 +/- turn to lock it(it has an internal water tank: carbide + water = acetelene gas).

Don't put an ounce of carbide in to get a bigger bang. Been there, done that, never found all the cannon pieces. Still have all my fingers so I made out, however.

Click to expand...

Thanks Charlie. I saw the rubber wheeled ones on E-bay too. The one I had found that looked like mine they had on E-bay listed as 1935. (see the link in my original post up top)
So any idea how long they made this 6F model? If it is from the 50's , and the E-bay one is from 1935, that's at least 15+ years. My igniter was the same color as the one on E-bay.
Thanks,
MM
P.S. I will NOT be trying to fire this thing.

Hey! You can still buy them! (www.bigbangcannons.com)

They have a contact/information link on the website. Free to ask them what age it might be.

They list this ad as from the 1920's, so in gereral they've been around. Site says founded in 1912 (Still made in Allentown, PA

). That model I'm not sure.

1924 Toy gunboat cannon. I want one!