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Description: | Gun flint, rectangular in plan and trapezoidal in profile and section, with one side more oblique than its opposite. The flint is a translucent brown-grey colour and the dorsal face has been worked on all four margins. The ventral face has only been worked on two opposing margins, one of them being the extended side with a potentially broken edge which has been reworked to strike again.There is no documentary evidence for when or where sparks from flint were first used to fire gunpowder, but flintlock guns were being used in France from about 1600. There is a written record of an order received by London gunsmiths in 1661 to provide 15,000 'flintstones cutt' for the garrisons in Tangier and Ireland. This gunflint may have been associated with the local activity in Cornwall during the Civil War, but they continued being used throughout the 18th century, especially during the Napoleonic Wars.Bailey (2000) illustrates similar examples on pages 69 & 71, Figs.3,4 & 9, which likely date from the 17th century.
Original Image | Publisher: | http://finds.org.uk | Source: | Portable Antiquities | Identifier: | http://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/r... | Go to resource |
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