Plz help identify cannon marked 1657

Fireman-X1

Tenderfoot
Jun 2, 2020
8
9
western mass
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Hi,
I am brand new to this site. I found it as i am trying to research a cannon i just purchased from ebay. It is marked 1657. it is just shy of 19" long. It has a way to big a bore of 1 3/8" diameter. within 2" of bottom it seems to have what looks to be a wire going across bore. Seems to be part of casting? Hard to tell what or why...??
Pictures will tell more. It is all brass and looks like it has age, but i just do not know how to tell.

I want to call it a signal cannon. Bore is way to large to actually shoot anything and honestly until i get a better sense of the thing i do not plan on firing it....although i would love to at least make noise!

Please lend me some opinion! Point me in a direction. It seems to cool to be real and the guy i got it from just had no real information and was from the middle of the country??? Hard because as i work to play Sherlock i have little to work from. It has the dolphin style loops, but it is such a small cannon it is just decoration.

anything you could offer is appreciated.
Thank you!!
 

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Thats freakin awesome Ive seen posts about those mini Cannons before, thats a nice one. Hope some one can give you some more info.......,Tommy
 

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Looks like a signal cannon. Aka a Swivel Gun.
 

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Thanks guys. Thanks for the welcome and great to be getting feedback.

Are there any sites that might help me whittle down origin?

I am having trouble finding something similar to compare it to. It is less detailed than some but certainly all brass and more detailed than many.
 

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It was sold as a swivel gun and i agree, i think of it as a signal cannon. Just trying to find out if it is real...or reproduction...and either way more about it??
 

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Great pictures. Some of the reproductions you show are close. They seem to have even more detail. I was wondering if the crest was something i could track down? What makes you say Antwerp?
 

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The trunions are not in alignment and are too small for that size bore. The touch hole/vent should be 1/8-3/32, does it go all the way to the bore?
 

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It is a modern fantasy piece. Trunions are way too small diameter as stated above, trunions are center mounted, should be low mounted on such an early gun. Bore is too big for outside diameter for either signal or shot use. I have a lot of small fireable cannons, I would not fire that thing.
 

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The trunions are not in alignment and are too small for that size bore. The touch hole/vent should be 1/8-3/32, does it go all the way to the bore?

Good point on trunions and yes touch hole seems very small for use although it does go all the way down.
thank you
 

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It is a modern fantasy piece. Trunions are way too small diameter as stated above, trunions are center mounted, should be low mounted on such an early gun. Bore is too big for outside diameter for either signal or shot use. I have a lot of small fireable cannons, I would not fire that thing.

Yeah, I agree with you guys about trunions. They are small and not well balanced for firing force. Also agree about to nervous to fire...which is REALLY disappointing...
 

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Look up Spain's Royal crest and compare.

I looked up Spanish crests but did not see anything similar...
I guess i was thinking even if it is a fantasy cannon...if they took the trouble you would think they would try and copy something??

Still holding out a little hope to find it at least as a poorly designed noise maker...
 

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