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Originally Posted by M ELEY
To my untrained eye, it looks like the ending is an 'EU' vs 'EI". The last identified letter seems to curve that way. Perhaps ending in '-eus', like 'Perseus' or "Maritaneus'. The construction of the gun itself, being bronze and relatively plain compared to most Spanish and Portuguese pieces makes me think another nation. As most nations highly decorated their pieces, could this perhaps be from one of Portugal's colonies? I keep thinking that it looks rather like many of the early petraroes I've seen. Not as decorative as the lantakas, more plain, but some were undecorated I believe. The Portuguese and Dutch were throughout Indonesia and Borneo. Could it have been made in Brunei or being shipped to such places? Very much thinking aloud, so don't mind me!
Just noticed that the trunnions are not centered on the sides of the barrel. We see this on smaller swivel guns and cannons meant to be angled sharply downwards on a ship. Perhaps this detail may help in identifying nation?
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Ah, Captain ... i though you'd never come
Not that my eyes are sharper than yours (much older than you
) but i don't see in the faded letters the kind of composition you are aiming at
.
I agree that Portuguese (and Spanish) guns
would have more decoration, Royal insignias and all. But when you think about great conflicts requiring gun casting under emergency needs, i don't know.
One non solid possibility is that this cannon was equiping a ship of the Invencible Armada which, after all odds, ended up wrecking all over. The basic fleet departure was Lisbon and the return of the surviving ships was in Galicia, not far from my hometown.
... And it is assumed that a great number of the Spanish cannons were made in a hurry and assumedly of low quality.
Yes, we had foundries in Asia (Goa and so), but i don't see them cannons coming all the way to wreck in my shore; and those would be also decorated all the same ... or again, not.
One detail that would put some light into this is the lower short inscription; not being the casting date, as the figures look more like letters than numbers, it could be the foundry place.
Not sure whether the trunions are not centered, or passive of optical ilusion in the pictures; will go around the place where it stays (close from my habitat), to check it at naked eye.
I thank you anyway for your input; it keeps the thing warm
.