Itty Bitty #3, or one last cannon (for now)

I know it's hard to see. Even the modern digital camera's macro lens has its limitations. The little field cannon on the U.S. penny is non-functional (the bore is there, but there's no touch hole), but it could be if:

a). I had a small enough Dremel Tool bit to make a touch hole, and,

b). if one could actually get black powder grains in there.

It's gold. It's cute. It's a cannon. What else can I say?

Itty Bitty # 2

Here's another tiny treasure...


The little guy next to Honest Abe is a little tiny bronze cannon, complete with trunnions, cascabel, touch hole, and all. It was reportedly found on the banks of the Thames River in London, England, and was probably an old toy dating back a few hundred years.

Although not a weapon in any meaningful sense of the word, I have actually fired this piece (I know, I know - you "condition" nuts should get a life) with a few grains of black powder, firecracker fuse, a binder clip, a bit of toilet paper wadding, and a cigarette.

It went: "Fzzpt."

And that greatly exaggerates the loudness...

But I had to do it, right?

After that, I wore it for a few years as a pendant before realizing that the true threat to it's condition was my own pungent yet alluring sweat and the risk of total loss by attrition (it was tied by the cascabel to a piece of waxed thread).

It now resides in the treasure chest.

Itty Bitty # 1

Every dog has his day...


Even lazy ones.

This little, itty bitty bomb is no bomb at all. This diminutive specimen next to the standard U.S. penny is a Lazy Dog (alternatively Devil Dog). These nasties were included in U.S. non-explosive cluster munitions in WWII and later in Vietnam. The idea was that an airburst of these things over Berlin, Dusseldorf, Hoh Chi Mihn City, or Newark, NJ would bring a swift end to the war. If only they dropped more of them over the last city, things might be different today...

These little things are still sold by the barrelful at gun shows everywhere. They usually run for about $1.00 U.S. apiece. They are so vanilla that I only include one here as a segue into a series of posts on itty bitty things, and so that I could make a Newark, NJ joke... It's OK - I live in Delaware.

Go ahead. Laugh.

My, what a LITTLE pistol you have...

And now for the very small...

This little guy standing next to the standard U.S. Quarter is a single shot, breech loading .22 caliber (short, not long rifle) "vest pocket" pistol. It is unmarked except for a serial number, and the barrel is not rifled. The frame is brass and the grips look like rosewood.

Based on the frame design and the push-button plunger opening mechanism, this piece is probably a Marlin (although copies of this design abounded). If it's a Marlin, it would have been made between 1863 and 1867, according to Flayderman.

I've actually shot this piece (I know, I know...but it's mine and I'll do with it what I like). Even though it's so tiny, there's no recoil just because of the diminutive size of the shot and load. There's a short list of what a .22 short round will punch through, and human flesh is on it. A piece of 1/4" plywood is on it too, although a piece of 1/2" plywood is not. Pages 1 - 89 of a hardcover book are on it, but pages 80 - 345 are not. Anyway, the bottom line is that this piece could hurt someone (you'll put an eye out with that thing!) but is not likely to be lethal...unless it's 1865 and you've never heard about the germ theory of disease. In fact, due to the state of medicine, back then this pistol was probably a lot scarier and potentially dangerous in the Civil War than it is today.

I always imagine the original owner of this pistol was a prostitute or showgirl who kept it tucked into her garter. She'd probably be able to put down an over-rowdy client with it "real-quick like" given her proximity to his hurty bits...