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<p>[QUOTE="springfld.arsenal, post: 131267, member: 54"]The company passed on this during the auction, as did all but one Civil War relic dealer. Catalog said "modified trunnions" which I think everyone took to mean the original trunnions had broken off and had ugly modern replacements. So I hadn't even looked at it closely before the auction. I think the one successful bid was like $350. If piece had been in orig cond would have sold in 4-figs somewhere.</p><p><br /></p><p>After the auction I had some time and looked at it more closely, and came to believe the cannon was a kind I'd never seen before. Instead of trunnions sticking out of each side to hold it in the carriage, it has rounded notches cast in and the carriage would have a matching protrusion on either side. So I missed out on something that I found, too late, was very interesting and another research challenge. The buyer hadn't sold it 5 mos later and offered it to the company for only about 6 times what he paid so they bought it and picked it up a couple of hours away last weekend. </p><p><br /></p><p>I've only learned that it came to the US as ballast in a British warship ca 1812, and the wreck was salvaged in the 1950's. I haven't found any reference at all to French 18th C. Trunnionless cannons. This tube is 110" long, has about a 4.5 inch bore. I'm guessing it weighs maybe 3500 lbs. it is made of cast iron and we haven't seen any markings yet. We're pretty sure it is French from the shape and the fact that the same British ship had other, but positively-id'd French cannons onboard.</p><p><br /></p><p>In 2nd photo, ignore the smooth shaft, that's a fake trunnions put on by Ft. Ticonderoga Assn. so they could display it on a more traditional type carriage. The tan thing is a leaf.</p><p><br /></p><p>What I'd like to find is any mention of this type of cannon, a photo of another one, etc. Haven't found anything on the web but a book that mentions finding two water-salvaged trunnionless cannons stored at Ft. Ticonderoga ca. 1980's (this is certainly one of them.). There were two of them in the auction but the other, a twin to this one, was in rougher condition.</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="https://springfieldarsenal.files.wordpress.com/2015/11/img_1360.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p><img src="https://springfieldarsenal.files.wordpress.com/2015/11/img_1357.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" />[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="springfld.arsenal, post: 131267, member: 54"]The company passed on this during the auction, as did all but one Civil War relic dealer. Catalog said "modified trunnions" which I think everyone took to mean the original trunnions had broken off and had ugly modern replacements. So I hadn't even looked at it closely before the auction. I think the one successful bid was like $350. If piece had been in orig cond would have sold in 4-figs somewhere. After the auction I had some time and looked at it more closely, and came to believe the cannon was a kind I'd never seen before. Instead of trunnions sticking out of each side to hold it in the carriage, it has rounded notches cast in and the carriage would have a matching protrusion on either side. So I missed out on something that I found, too late, was very interesting and another research challenge. The buyer hadn't sold it 5 mos later and offered it to the company for only about 6 times what he paid so they bought it and picked it up a couple of hours away last weekend. I've only learned that it came to the US as ballast in a British warship ca 1812, and the wreck was salvaged in the 1950's. I haven't found any reference at all to French 18th C. Trunnionless cannons. This tube is 110" long, has about a 4.5 inch bore. I'm guessing it weighs maybe 3500 lbs. it is made of cast iron and we haven't seen any markings yet. We're pretty sure it is French from the shape and the fact that the same British ship had other, but positively-id'd French cannons onboard. In 2nd photo, ignore the smooth shaft, that's a fake trunnions put on by Ft. Ticonderoga Assn. so they could display it on a more traditional type carriage. The tan thing is a leaf. What I'd like to find is any mention of this type of cannon, a photo of another one, etc. Haven't found anything on the web but a book that mentions finding two water-salvaged trunnionless cannons stored at Ft. Ticonderoga ca. 1980's (this is certainly one of them.). There were two of them in the auction but the other, a twin to this one, was in rougher condition. [IMG]https://springfieldarsenal.files.wordpress.com/2015/11/img_1360.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]https://springfieldarsenal.files.wordpress.com/2015/11/img_1357.jpg[/IMG][/QUOTE]
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