^Lot 1564 Bronze breech block marked III, ex-1733 Fleet, ex-Meylach.

Bronze breech block marked III, ex-1733 Fleet, ex-Meylach. 29 lb. 8-1/2" x 5". With handle in side and semicircular protrusion in bottom, this was basically a "rapid fire cartridge" that could be packed ahead of time and simply set into a breech-loading cannon and fired, with small touch-hole below numeral III in side, coppery-bronze in color with sea-foam green highlights. From the 1733 Fleet, pedigreed to the Marty Meylach collection (Sedwick Auction 10, with original lot-tag 1306), with copy of a letter from Mendel Peterson of the Smithsonian Institution describing the piece and its purpose.