✅ SOLVED I have a signal cannon I believe it looks old

[Cjanes]

Here is some pics of a signal cannon I believe? It appears to be old from what I can tell also it looks like someone tried to clean it in one of the areas unfortunately. It also has some weird wear on the top of barrel near the mounting lugs ( sorry to butcher the actual names of the parts or areas of the cannon. ) any help to I'd this would be great and of course value would be great also. Thanks a Lot everyone this is a great websitemml

 

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[Jason in Enid]

Yes.... but you would have to find the pants first.

Probably the same place as the remains of the front door, and casing, and portico.... about 100 yards downrange!

 

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[civil_war22]

Yes.... but you would have to find the pants first.

That’s true. That would be like that movie with John Candy where the bear got its butt hair shot off.

 

[civil_war22]

Probably the same place as the remains of the front door, and casing, and portico.... about 100 yards downrange!

I’m betting it would end up like a oxygen tank once you knock the regulator off

 

[ANTIQUARIAN]

Actually Dave this would have been a toy... errr of shall we say... a real toy / novelty cannon.

Real and just a deadly as a large one.

I personally have a belief that THIS SIZE could / might have also been used as a "personal canon"... a form of protection that could be set towards a doorway.

Although I have no basis of fact for this theory... but hey... whatever.

I too have heard stories about these small cannons being used for entertaining guests at parties back in the day ARC.
Don't forget who was in control in India for almost 200 years... the British.

The British Raj refers to the period of British rule on the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947. The system of governance was instituted in 1858 when the rule of the East India Company was transferred to the Crown in the person of Queen Victoria (who in 1876 was proclaimed Empress of India). Prior to the British, it was the Dutch who controlled India, so who knows who was responsible for making this cannon.

Dave

 

[ARC]

I too have heard stories about these small cannons being used for entertaining guests at parties back in the day ARC.
Don't forget who was in control in India for almost 200 years... the British.

The British Raj refers to the period of British rule on the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947. The system of governance was instituted in 1858 when the rule of the East India Company was transferred to the Crown in the person of Queen Victoria (who in 1876 was proclaimed Empress of India). Prior to the British, it was the Dutch who controlled India, so who knows who was responsible for making this cannon.

Dave

Actually Dave...

The imperial policies of the British Raj led to stagnation of metallurgy in India as the British regulated mining and metallurgy...

And cannon and such were not something the British or Dutch had produced there for several reasons.

One of which was the inferior quality control at this period.

Also... foundries that existed "back home" had contracts and LONG standing with Gov's LONG before India control... these foundries were owned by higher ups in the political game.

"Proof marks" were required on ALL things by law under the Crown.

This was a very stringent and overseen process.

Now... for swagger sticks and such... another story.

 

[ARC]

After a quick search...

"In The New Cambridge History of India: Science, Technology and Medicine in Colonial India, scholar David Arnold examines the effect of the British Raj in Indian mining and metallurgy:[4]

With the partial exception of coal, foreign competition, aided by the absence of tariff barriers and lack of technological innovation, held back the development of mining and metal-working technology in India until the early 20th century. The relatively crude, labour-intensive nature of surviving mining techniques contributed to the false impression that India was poorly endowed with mineral resources or that they were inaccessible or otherwise difficult and unremunerative to work. But the fate of mining and metallurgy was affected by political as well as by economic and technological considerations.

The British were aware of the part metal-working had played in supporting indigenous powers in the past through the production of arms and ammunition, and, just as they introduced an Arms Act in 1878 to restrict Indian access to firearms, so they sought to limit India’s ability to mine and work metals that might sustain it in future wars and rebellions. This was especially the case with Rajasthan, a region rich in metals. In the 1820s James Tod identified the ‘mines of Mewar’ as one of the means that had enabled its masters ‘so long to struggle against superior power, and to raise those magnificent structures which would do honour to the most potent kingdoms of the west’. Indian skill in the difficult art of casting brass cannon had made Indian artillery a formidable adversary from the reign of Akbar to the Maratha and Sikh wars 300 years later. But by the early 19th century most of the mines in Rajasthan had been abandoned: the caste of miners was ‘extinct’.

During the Company period, as military opponents were eliminated and princely states extinguished, so was the local capacity to mine and work metals steadily eroded. As late as the Rebellion of 1857, the mining of lead for ammunition at Ajmer was perceived as a threat the British would no longer countenance and the mines were closed down. "

 

[DCMatt]

As late as the Rebellion of 1857, the mining of lead for ammunition at Ajmer was perceived as a threat the British would no longer countenance

Prior to 1857, large parts of India were under control of the British owned East India Company. They had a Royal Charter from the Queen giving them exclusive trade rights in India.

Ironically, it was British ammunition that contributed to the Sepoy Rebellion of 1857. A rumor started among some Sepoy companies of the Bengal army that the cartridges for the new Enfield rifles were dipped in pork or beef fat. It was actually beeswax and mutton tallow (for waterproofing), but the officers didn't know and couldn't guarantee it was not from pigs or cows.

To load the Enfield one must place the end of a cartridge in the mouth to tear it open and pour the powder down the barrel. This insulted both Hindu and Muslim religious practices as cows were considered holy by Hindus and pigs were considered unclean by Muslims. Troops rose up against their British officers. The rebellion was quelled by British regulars and brought about direct rule of India by the British government (British Raj era).

Sorry to hijack the thread but I know a lot about this topic. A few years ago I restored an 1849 East India Company model F musket that was used in the Sepoy Rebellion.

 

[civil_war22]

I had a early model East India rifle that I restored years ago. I re-blued the barrel, also the side plates were nickel plated. I sand blasted it, and had it sent off to have the nickel plating redone. Those were some smooth shooting rifles. I wish I still had it. I had gotten mine from an older gentleman who was a collector, and had gone to the east India area 60+ years ago, and bought the rifle for $7 US currency. When I got it I only paid $75. I had originally planned to use it as a deer rifle, but then decided it was too much work, and just had it restored, and more of a mantel piece.

 

[Smithbrown]

Funnily enough one of the first things the Europeans did when theyarrived in Asia was to set up works for making cannon. By 1525 the Portuguesewere already having guns made there and later in the century the Bocarro familywere sent out; they became the most famous gunfounders in the Portuguese empire,establishing cannon foundries first in Goa in India and by the 1620s, in Macaoin China.

The Dutch ordered guns to be made when they first arrived in Japan, andwhen they and the other Europeans were thrown out of the mainland and the useof gunpowder restricted, they moved their gun-making to Indonesia.

The English East India Company established their own gun foundry inIndia, first at Fort William in Calcutta, then moved it out to Cossipore wherethey made gun carriages- apparently it is still there. One of the reasons they had to do this, apartfrom coping with the distances between India and London, was the closure of thelast private gun foundry in London in the 1820s.

There is a very long tradition of cannon making in India, dating from thetime of the early Mughals. Later the native princes- the Maharajahs of Rajasthanand the Nabobs of the southern states all had their own gun foundries. The mostfamous and still in existence is the cannon foundry at Jaipur. The Nabob ofOudh employed the French officer Claude Martin to cast bronze guns at Lucknowand you can those cannons in several collections. The sultans of Hyderbad-Hyder Ali and Tipu had several gun foundries in their lands, some of whichsurvive in poor condition.

After the 1857 Mutiny the British government did attempt to control gunproduction but the native princes still had a good deal of autonomy. There is abig tradition of fireworks and the use of small cannon as entertainmentreaching to today- it was Diwali at the weekend and there was a good deal ofcelebrating even in Yorkshire.

Looking beyond the Indian subcontinent there is of course the wholetradition of bronze swivel guns- lantaka- right across south west Asia,including the old Dutch East Indies, which continues pretty well up to moderndays. Such small calibre pieces were still needed for defence, both on land andon sea, for prestige and for selling to tourists.

The absence of a proof mark does suggest casting beyond the very strictcontrol of Europeans confirming my belief it was cast in Asia.

If you want to know the more about the subject, there are a number ofbooks I can recommend. The best book on Indian cannon is The Saga of Indian Cannons by R. Balasubramaniam. There is afascinating article by the same author on the wrought-iron guns of India: https://insa.nic.in/writereaddata/UpLoadedFiles/IJHS/Vol3_2005_01_THE%20FIRST%20CATALOGUE%20ON%20FORGE%20WELDED%20IRON%20CANNONS%20BY%20NEOGI.pdf?fbclid=IwAR36ukdqZlha4nlW0CY78yVjHRA8xf3GHIQ3EjKcbGx2t5XP_6iUcoNnr58

On the East India Company gun foundries, there is The East India Company’s Arsenals & Manufactories by Brigadier-GeneralH. A. Young

On pages 39-47 here you can find pictures and a description of the famousgun foundry at Jaipur: http://network.icom.museum/fileadmin/user_upload/minisites/icomam/Magazine/issue15.pdf