December 10-13, 2024 Firearms & Militaria
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 12/10/2024
An exceptionally fine gunner’s perpendicular of the type used by Royal Artillerymen during the Napoleonic and War of 1812 era, bearing a stamped broad arrow ownership mark of the Board of Ordnance on the reverse and with maker's name "Berge" engraved on the obverse. Matthew Berge of London was an important maker of scientific instruments whose working dates were c. 1800-1819. The brass instrument is 5 1/2 x 3 1/2 in. and housed in a slightly later, c. 1840, mahogany case with brass-hinged lid, 6 7/8 x 4 7/8 in. bearing stamped "[broad arrow] / WD" of the War Department. A perpendicular (sometimes called a level) enabled a gunner to establish the center line of an artillery piece and thus its direction of fire. The instrument was placed transversely on the gun's barrel and, once leveled using the spirit level, the steel-tipped slide was depressed. Marks were made at the muzzle and breech of the gun and joined by a chalk line. Perpendiculars incorporating spirit levels were first purchased by the British Board of Ordnance in 1757 and replaced earlier versions in which the leveling was carried out with a plumb bob and line. CONDITION: both items in excellent condition and very good working order.