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Cavalry and Cannons

Posted: 22/05/17 (10:18am)

I had a mixed week last week. I missed out on some nice items at auction but i bought some too.
I bought a pair of 19th Century, French made cavalry sabres. The sabres were made by the Chatellerault armoury for the Chilean cavalry. They are very attractive swords with pierced, polished steel bowl guards. I'll be adding one to the website later this week.
I also bought a very interesting turn of the century cast iron signal cannon. The cannon was made in the late Victorian or early Edwardian period and is modelled on a field gun of that time. Again, I'll be adding it to the website in a day or so. I'm itching to get it and all my purchases photographed and added to the site but am rather busy at the moment. I'm busy blogging from an auction while I'm waiting for lots I'm interested in. My first one is coming up in the next 15-20 minutes.
A second cannon I bought is a bronze Georgian naval signal cannon. The barrel is typical of the period but the wooden truck is a replacement. That's not unusual and the truck is excellent, highly detailed and made from mahogany (I think). It's quite a substantial piece.
One can only imagine the working life of these signal cannons - both were clearly made for use and not as toys or display pieces. Was the Georgian cannon on a ship? Was it a noon gun? Did the field cannon serve a similar function on land? Maybe announcing dinner in the officer's mess? We'll never truly know what function they served but they are impressive collectables and wonderfully evocative.
My final purchase was an 1803 pattern British Infantry officer's sabre. It's beautiful. If only it could talk! Once it's photographed I'll give it a blog of its own with pics. It deserves it.
It's a tough choice as to which of my recent acquisitions is my favourite, I'm particularly taken with the cannons but I think it has to be the 1803 pattern Infantry officer's sabre.
Actually, on reflection I had an excellent week!☺