Waterloo or not...

fernando · 12th June 2019, 07:33 PM

Jim, in trying to relate your post & pictures with the ongoing topic, the closest i can get is that you are suggesting that the discussed setup is not an isolated personal memorandum but a 'marketing' souvenir.
While in the famous photo you show, judging by the 'disciplined' (read implausible) line up of such immense parade of balls, is practically undeniable that it is a setup organized by the photographer, to the extent you may even doubt if those balls were actually all shot, without an extra resource of unshot ammunition reserves, at least Via Dixiane memo has a bursted grenade, which gives it a reality look.
I don't have scruples in so saying because i once saw a photographer, during a street demonstration (Paris 1968), enticing a young man to burst the windows of a kiosk, to later publish the scene in his magazine, as if it were spontaneous.

Jim McDougall · 13th June 2019, 12:23 AM

Actually I had not given it any thought, and simply recalled research of years ago when I was obsessed with the "Charge of the Light Brigade" and the cannons, which were the focus of the immortal charge.

'cannon to the left of them, cannon to the right of them, cannon in front of them, volley'd and thunder'd'

I was not suggesting anything, but as this item is said to be from Sevastopol, my memory to countless years of research on the charge was piqued.

Batjka translated the inscription, clearly Cyrillic, and suggested perhaps it was a fragment of a shell from the Crimean War. Somehow that triggered thoughts of the charge and the lines of the Tennyson poem, and the famed photo.
I actually had no thought of the character of the ball shown, whether it was authentically exploded or not, nor why it was mounted, except I will note that there are countless souvenir items from that war with such labels.
As far as I have known these are generally items which belonged to members of the units in the Crimea, presentation items to such groups, and personal keepsakes.
I have never seen 'marketing' souvenirs from this war personally, so would not have thought of such an instance for this example of what is commonly known as 'trench art'.

In trying to add interesting information pertaining to Sevastopol, as suggested by Batjka, I did not realize I had postured such a perplexing notion.

12th June 2019, 07:33 PM	#1
fernando (deceased) Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Portugal Posts: 9,694	The reality or fantasy of (photo) press. Jim, in trying to relate your post & pictures with the ongoing topic, the closest i can get is that you are suggesting that the discussed setup is not an isolated personal memorandum but a 'marketing' souvenir. While in the famous photo you show, judging by the 'disciplined' (read implausible) line up of such immense parade of balls, is practically undeniable that it is a setup organized by the photographer, to the extent you may even doubt if those balls were actually all shot, without an extra resource of unshot ammunition reserves, at least Via Dixiane memo has a bursted grenade, which gives it a reality look. I don't have scruples in so saying because i once saw a photographer, during a street demonstration (Paris 1968), enticing a young man to burst the windows of a kiosk, to later publish the scene in his magazine, as if it were spontaneous.

13th June 2019, 12:23 AM	#2
Jim McDougall Arms Historian Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Route 66 Posts: 10,281	Actually I had not given it any thought, and simply recalled research of years ago when I was obsessed with the "Charge of the Light Brigade" and the cannons, which were the focus of the immortal charge. 'cannon to the left of them, cannon to the right of them, cannon in front of them, volley'd and thunder'd' I was not suggesting anything, but as this item is said to be from Sevastopol, my memory to countless years of research on the charge was piqued. Batjka translated the inscription, clearly Cyrillic, and suggested perhaps it was a fragment of a shell from the Crimean War. Somehow that triggered thoughts of the charge and the lines of the Tennyson poem, and the famed photo. I actually had no thought of the character of the ball shown, whether it was authentically exploded or not, nor why it was mounted, except I will note that there are countless souvenir items from that war with such labels. As far as I have known these are generally items which belonged to members of the units in the Crimea, presentation items to such groups, and personal keepsakes. I have never seen 'marketing' souvenirs from this war personally, so would not have thought of such an instance for this example of what is commonly known as 'trench art'. In trying to add interesting information pertaining to Sevastopol, as suggested by Batjka, I did not realize I had postured such a perplexing notion.