POST MEDIEVAL TOY

1750

Post medieval to modern cast copper alloy miniature cannon, probably dating between 1750 to 1850 AD as it is similar to guns of the eighteenth century and later. The trunnions suggest the gun was intended to be mounted in a gun carriage, so possibly a copy of a naval gun or field piece. Many of these cannons were fired and are often found with exploded barrels from mis-fires. Forsyth and Egan (2005:80-82) discuss toy cannons and think the ones that actually fired were widespread by the end of the sixteenth century. Most surviving examples show features that were developed in seventeenth - eighteenth century. This example is similar to their Type 4 Design 1 (p.82) although in this case there are no reinforcing rings near the trunnions. They suggest this type is from the first half of the eighteenth century or later. The gun dates to sometime between c1700 and c1900AD, but probably dating to the last half of eighteenth, or first half of the nineteenth century.The length is 38mm, the width is 13mm at the trunnions, maximum thickness/diameter of barrel 8mm, and the weight is circa 5.5g.Similar, but not identical, records on the database include LANCUM-6DAEA2, WILT-0AA462, and LANCUM-B5FE32 amongst others.