Miniature cannon with proofmarks

M ELEY · 7th April 2019, 04:47 PM

Hi Ken,

As Fernando said, it could be a toy due to its tiny size. That being said,I think it could still be a miniature signal gun. Some were indeed diminutive and were used to signal the hour on ships, serve as alarm clocks of the day. Here's a wiki page with an example cannon like yours. If it were only a toy, I don't think it would have the English proofs like yours. Congratulations on the neat find!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sundial_cannon

fernando · 7th April 2019, 07:09 PM

Rather plausible, Mark.
The dimensions of that device are Height: 18 cm (7 ″); Diameter: 31 cm (12.2 ″); Ken's cannon looks proportional.

7th April 2019, 04:47 PM	#1
M ELEY Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: NC, U.S.A. Posts: 2,165	Hi Ken, As Fernando said, it could be a toy due to its tiny size. That being said,I think it could still be a miniature signal gun. Some were indeed diminutive and were used to signal the hour on ships, serve as alarm clocks of the day. Here's a wiki page with an example cannon like yours. If it were only a toy, I don't think it would have the English proofs like yours. Congratulations on the neat find! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sundial_cannon Last edited by M ELEY; 7th April 2019 at 05:39 PM.

7th April 2019, 07:09 PM	#2
fernando (deceased) Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Portugal Posts: 9,694	Rather plausible, Mark. The dimensions of that device are Height: 18 cm (7 ″); Diameter: 31 cm (12.2 ″); Ken's cannon looks proportional.