12 Pounder Gribeauval Cannon & Limber

12 Pounder Gribeauval Cannon & Limber

French Field Artillery

French Revolutionary Wars & Napoleonic Wars (Designed in 1765)

Scale  1:8

Price on Request

Video 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPvxzIW8Doc&t=5s&ab_channel=ZanePalmer 

Dimensions 

Overall Length: 860mm

Overall Height: 176 mm

Carriage width: 250 mm

Carriage height: 176 mm

Barrel diameter: 41 mm

Barrel length: 270 mm

Barrel bore: 12.5 mm

Weight: 8.8 kg

Wooden base: 590 mm x 330 mm

Limited edition:

50 in silver and blackwood

The story behind the selection of the 12 pounder Gribeauval cannon

Apparently, Zane had developed a reputation for his outstanding craftsmanship and was head hunted by an international collector to develop this model.

Historical information

Fondly called his belles filles (beautiful daughters), the 12 Pounder Gribeauval cannons were used by Emperor Napoleon the 1st throughout his Napoleonic wars as the mainstay of all his campaigns. This gun was designed as part of the Gribeauval artillery system in or around 1793 -1794 under the Inspector of Artillery Jean-Baptiste Vaquette de Gribeauval.

About the model

You will not find a more accurate rendition of this world famous cannon anywhere in the world today.

Prior to making the patterns of the model Zane travelled from South Africa to Paris to see an original gun and received permission from the curator of the Hotel des Invalides to do a complete walk around to photograph and video one of the few surviving original guns.

Measurements were taken and the patterns were made using the photographs together with a copy of the set of original drawings that I was able to source. Every nail, bolt and nut on the original are accurately reproduced on the model to a scale of 1/8.

This scale model cannon contains 1487 individual silver pieces each vacuum cast, cleaned by hand and highly polished to a mirror finish. The total weight of sterling silver is 1223 grams.

There are 207 individual wooden pieces made from African Black Wood (Dalbergia Melanoxylon) or the wood of your choice.

The barrel is machined from Bronze and capable of firing using a correctly measured amount of black powder.  This isn't advisable however as it will significantly reduce the value of your investment and we, therefore, don't supply it as a firing model.

The ancient technique of fire gilding, using 24 carat gold, gives a long lasting pure gold appearance to replicate the fact that the Gribeauval was a bronze cannon and all the iron work of the original gun is made in polished sterling silver.

The barrel is hand engraved with Napoleon's crest and the ammunition box decorated with the French fleur-de-lis.

1696 Handmade pieces are required to make this gun and limber. The base is made from ebony and has a sterling silver name plate with the model number of the limited edition of 50.