On Fri, 3 Nov 1995, Cathy Gaither wrote:
 
> Hello,
> Since we are on the subject of guns.... and now that you
mention it. I am researching a gun found on a wreck that dates to
somewhere around 1810. It is a Spanish miquelet with an "R" on the thumb
plate. It has no other visible maker's marks. Does anyone have any ideas
on makers or area of manufacture? It has been suggested that it was made
in Ripoll and that is what the R stands for. I have consulted Lavin's
"History of Spanish Firearms" which goes into great detail about the
makers of Royal arms, but provides very little information about the
more common makers as there is apparently very little information
available. If anyone knows of any other sources or has any ideas about
this gun, I would appreciate any information you could give me. Thanks
in advance,
 
Cathy,
 
The letter "R" is often found on government issue items from the
later eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, in Spanish Colonial
contexts. In general, it is used to indicate royal property (i.e.
property of "El Rey.") In this, it is similar to the British "broad
arrow."
 
The use of the letter "R," generally also shown with a crown, can be
dated to 1728. A Royal Ordinance of that year required its use on
military weapons. However, this custom was not always observed. After
1750, the letters "EX" were often followed by the arsenal inspector's
initial, and a date. The letter "R" was sometimes replaced by other
letters designating a Royal Arsenal or town (see Brinckerhoff and
Chamberlin noted below, page 30 - see also the reproduction of a
contemporary drawing showing the letter on a musket estucheon of 1752,
page 34).
 
I have seen "R" cut into bronze cannon, as well as horse shoes and other
firearms. The work of the Ripoll firearms factory is highly distinctive,
and I have never seen the letter "R" on any items of this type that I have
recovered. Spanish firearms were mass produced in Spain in the Madrid,
Barcelona, and Toledo areas. They were also mass-produced in Mexico City
at the end of the colonial era. Regional production by gunsmiths occurred
in numerous areas, including remote frontier provinces, such as Sonora and
Paraguay. Spanish forces of this era were also armed with weapons produced
by Britain (including the "brown bess") and French fusiles. In New Spain
(Mexico) - weapons were stock-piled at the fortress of Perote for
redistribution to regional forces.
 
Fragments of Spanish firearms are relatively common on Spanish military
sites in northern New Spain. Carbines (escopetas) manufactured in the
Barcelona area (escopetas ripolenos, escopetas de cataluna) as well as
pistols (pistolas) and blunderbuses (trabucos) have been identified on
archaeological sites, and are described in numerous supply and inspection
papers. Drawings of some of these weapons can also be found in AGN (the
Mexican National Archive). They were first described in detail in
Art Woodward's contribution to Charles DiPeso's 1953, study of the
Presidio of Santa Cruz de Terrenate.
 
Probably Sydney Brinckerhoff and Pierce Chamberlin's "Spanish Military
Weapons in Colonial America 1700-1821" published by Stackpole Books, in
1972, will be of more use to you than Lavin. They describe a wide array
of makers' marks (puzones), and note that the letter "R" sometimes
appears as a military arsenal inspection mark on such weapons (p. 28).
 
Jack S. Williams
The Center for Spanish Colonial Archaeology
Real Presidio de San Diego Excavations,
California