Dutch bronze one-pounder cannon, dated 1784, made by brothers

Dutch bronze one-pounder cannon, dated 1784, made by brothers Christiaan and Jan Seest, sons of Pieter Seest, master founders of the Amsterdam foundry, very rare. 47-1/2" long, with 7" breech, 10-1/2" across trunnions, 2" bore. This beautiful gun of useful size (made for shipboard use) clearly shows the Amsterdam mark (tower of three X's) above the mark of the Amsterdam chamber of the VOC (Dutch East India Company) above the breech and also shows a very clear makers' mark and date C: EN I: SEEST. Ao 1784 on the top between the trunnions, almost an exact match with one in the famous H.L. Visser collection as well as another example in the Legermuseum in Delft, Holland, with no others traceable by us. The touchhole bears evidence of a small iron spike, hammered in to prevent the gun from being fired further in its time, a practice known as "spiking," typically done when a piece was captured and/or scrapped, or when an enemy simply wanted to disable the gun. In this case, the bore has also been obstructed for the same reason, and the previous collector who owned this piece believed this was done by British forces during the Battle of Texel in 1799, as the cannon was found on that island. With lovely green patina and clear markings, we count this piece among the nicest cannons we have offered. With photo-certificate, diagram of the Visser collection specimen and brief history of the Battle of Texel.

Estimate: $15000