December 10-13, 2024 Firearms & Militaria
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 12/10/2024
1) "Light 6 Pounder brass length 5 ft. weight 6 cwt", original measured drawing, dated "RMA 1st Academy Novr. 1812" in llc and signed "R. Wilson" in lrc. Richard Goodwin Bowen Wilson made this 1812 copy from the original Revolutionary War era plan deposited in the Royal Artillery Laboratory as part of his drawing curriculum while a cadet at the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich in 1812, just prior to being commissioned as a lieutenant in the Royal Artillery later that year. He served in the campaigns in Holland, Belgium and France, and was present at Quatre Bras and Waterloo in 1815. He was near General Picton when the latter was killed and was the last survivor of Rogers' Waterloo Battery, dying as a Major-General (ret.) on 24 October 1876. CONDITION: Conserved and backed with Japanese tissue; repairs consist of mended tears in the title area and some infilling of paper loss (appx. 2 x 1 in.) in upper right margin. WITH 2) "CANON DE 36"; engraved by Pelit and published in Paris in 1788; 19 1/2 x 26 1/2 inches (sheet) 18 x 24 in. (platemark). This is a rare plate engraved from the official drawings and watercolors of the French Ministry of the Marine for their new system of iron naval ordnance adopted in 1788. This handsome and large plan of a French 36 pounder (nearly equivalent in size and weight to a British 42 pounder of the period). French 36 pounders were mounted in the water batteries below Fort McHenry during the British bombardment in September 1814 and it was the destructive fire from these guns that allowed for the successful defense and ultimately, the impetus for the penning of "The Star Spangled Banner." CONDITION: paper clean and bright, with some scattered, small folds and tears along edges of margins, not plate or image area; engraving strong and crisp, a light dampstain in upper LH corner, extending 1 1/2 inches into plate.