File:Toy Gun from Keelby (FindID 475193).jpg

Petronel. Cast toy gun fragment with the stubs of an iron trigger mechanism which project both above and below the position of the lock. This fragment includes a curved butt with a rectangular cavity of 9.5 x 2.4mm at its end, a moulded expansion beyond the position of the lock associated with the iron part/s, perhaps the end of the gun barrel, and beyond this the drilled and probably screw-threaded end of a hollow chamber with a bore of 3.5mm, showing that the toy could fire, although the ignition mechanism was different from that of the firearm it represents. The screw thread was probably intended to retain a ramrod to be used with the piece.

The external surface is decorated with relief scrolls and curlicues of vegetal character, and, above the putative trigger, with an oval plate (depicted on both sides) on which the mechanism of a wheel lock is represented. The barrel is split at its expanded end, perhaps from an explosion when the gun was last fired.

The distinctive curve of the butt indicates this toy reflects the form of a cavalry pistol of circa 1600-1630 (Forsyth and Egan 2005, Toys, Trifles and Trinkets: Base-metal miniatures from London 1200 to 1800, page 97, no. 1.39). Examples of toy petronels from London measure 75mm in length, smaller than this piece, which has lost a long part of its barrel. The slot at the end of the butt appears intended to receive another element, though whether a separate terminal or an item associated with the operation of the gun is uncertain. The moulding above the remaining end of the barrel may represent the plume of smoke generated when the priming powder in the pan of a real pistol was ignited. This object was reported along with a fragment from another early toy gun. Suggested date: Post-Medieval, 1600-1630.

Length: 61.2mm, Width (at trigger): 22.6mm, Thickness: 11.6mm, Weight: 39.15gms.