Description
Driggs Ordnance Company Mark IX 37mm 1 Pounder Quick Fire Gun – Original Naval Ordnance Display
This Driggs Ordnance Company Mark IX 37mm 1 Pounder Quick Fire Gun is a substantial late 19th-century rapid-fire naval ordnance display with pedestal mount, accessory group, and marked fittings. The receiver is marked DRIGGS ORDNANCE ENGINEERING CO. NEW YORK U.S.A., while the fitted plate reads Driggs Ord. Co. Inc. N.Y. City with MARK IX. The group includes the gun with brass and blued fittings, cleaning rods and brushes, lanyard, wooden instrument case, technical drawings, and a Field Mark VI clinometer with oak case. Driggs Mark IX 37mm quick-fire guns belong to the family of small naval rapid-fire pieces developed to counter fast, lightly built targets in the torpedo-boat era of the late 19th century.
Driggs Ordnance Company Mark IX 37mm 1 Pounder Quick Fire Gun
This example presents as a highly visual and mechanically impressive ordnance grouping. In addition to the gun itself, the set retains a strong supporting accessory ensemble that helps convey how this class of weapon was equipped, serviced, and interpreted. The marked plates, brass pedestal, clinometer, oak instrument case, and hand-drafted engineering drawing add depth beyond the gun alone. As a result, the group reads not just as a single display arm, but as a more complete ordnance presentation with strong technical and historical presence.
Construction / Configuration / Pattern
The gun is configured as a Mark IX 37mm 1 pounder quick-fire piece with brass and blued fittings and multiple marked components. The receiver marking reads DRIGGS ORDNANCE ENGINEERING CO. NEW YORK U.S.A., and the fitted plate reads Driggs Ord. Co. Inc. N.Y. City with MARK IX. The brass pedestal is marked No. 232 Wt. 220 Cage Stand Mark III for 37mm & 1 Pdr R.F. Guns Ord. Dept. W.N.Y. 1897, with anchor pictograph and inspector mark C.J.B. The group also includes cleaning rods and brushes, lanyard, wooden instrument case, and technical drawings. Included with the set is a Clinometer, Field, Mark VI No. 9139 manufactured by Taylor, Taylor & Hobson Ltd. in 1918, housed in an oak case. The hand-drafted engineering diagram showing the sight in detail adds another strong technical component to the display. Comparable surviving Mark VI clinometers by Taylor, Taylor & Hobson are documented in institutional and collector channels, which supports the nomenclature and period character of the accessory.
Historical Context / Provenance / Development
The 37mm 1 pounder quick-fire gun belongs to the period when small rapid-fire weapons filled the gap between heavy naval guns and ordinary small arms. In that role, they offered a compact mounting, quick handling, and a fast rate of aimed fire against small vessels and similar threats. The Driggs system emerged from late 19th-century American rapid-fire gun development associated with Lieutenant William H. Driggs and related Driggs-Schroeder and later Driggs-Seabury work.
Surviving Mark IX examples dated 1897 are documented as U.S. naval-type quick-fire cannon from that period, which fits well with the dated mount markings on this set. That places this gun squarely in the mature years of the torpedo-boat-defense era, when navies relied on light quick-firing ordnance for practical close and intermediate defensive work.
Condition
The set as a whole is in excellent condition. The gun retains strong visual appeal through its brass and blued fittings, marked plates, and well-preserved accessory group. The receiver and mount markings remain an important strength of the piece. The cleaning rods, brushes, lanyard, wooden instrument case, clinometer, and technical drawings help preserve the display as a coherent ordnance grouping rather than a stand-alone gun. Overall, it presents with excellent mechanical and historical character and would make a commanding centerpiece in an advanced naval, artillery, or maritime ordnance collection.
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