1386

Bronze cannon breech-block, ex-1715 Fleet, ex-Real Eight, ex-Sotheby-Parke-Bernet (1973), plated in

Currency:USD Category:Artifacts / Shipwreck Artifacts Start Price:4,000.00 USD Estimated At:6,000.00 - 12,000.00 USD
Bronze cannon breech-block, ex-1715 Fleet, ex-Real Eight, ex-Sotheby-Parke-Bernet (1973), plated in
SOLD
Sign In To View Winning Bid
This item SOLD at 2023 May 04 @ 19:36UTC-4 : AST/EDT
By registering for our auction, you agree to the terms and conditions.
Bronze cannon breech-block, ex-1715 Fleet, ex-Real Eight, ex-Sotheby-Parke-Bernet (1973), plated in Pieces of Eight (Wagner, 1966), very rare and important. 24.3 lbs., 8-1/4" tall x 3" diameter at top. Very dense and heavy, with smooth, brassy-bronze exterior and crusty green residue inside, inscribed on its darker side with IM / BS above and cross-hatched triangle below the touch-hole, 4" rectangular handle on side and small lip on bottom, made to be pre-packed with powder and ball and then simply inserted into the breech of a cannon for quick firing, this example extremely important as reportedly one of only four found on the 1715 Fleet (two of which are in the State of Florida museum), probably all of them for use with the single breech-loading cannon found in 2010 (famously stuffed with gold cobs), also particularly well pedigreed, pictured and described in both the most famous book about the 1715 Fleet (Kip Wagner's Pieces of Eight) and one of the classic early auctions of Real Eight Co. 1715-Fleet artifacts in 1973. From the 1715 Fleet, plated on photo-pages opposite pages 80 and 192 of Pieces of Eight (1966), by Kip Wagner, and on page 131 of the Treasure of the Spanish Main auction (Sotheby Parke, Bernet, Los Angeles, June 1973), lot 651, and with Real Eight Co. certificate signed by John P. Jones.