POST MEDIEVAL TOY

1600

Post medieval copper alloy miniature cannon, probably dating between 1700 to 1800 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 (2005:79-84) 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. The gun dates to sometime between c1600 and c1900 AD, but probably dating to the eighteenth century.The length is 41mm, the width is 13mm at the trunnions, maximum thickness/diameter of barrel 7mm.Similar, but not identical, records on the database include LANCUM-6DAEA2, WILT-0AA462, and LANCUM-B5FE32 amongst others.