18th century bronze cannon stolen

David MacDougall -

An 18th century bronze ship's cannon was stolen from the front of a pirate treasure gallery on King Street, according to the gallery's owner.

Rich Mutschler, owner of Galleons Lost at 165 King St., said Monday that he put the cannon out in front of his store about 9 a.m. Friday and it was gone at 10:30 a.m.

Mutschler reported the loss to Charleston police in a report filed Saturday.

"We have been putting it out front for weeks," Mutschler said. "Nobody bothered it."

Galleons Lost has been open since April and offers pirate artifacts, art, shipwreck coins, gold doubloons, black pearls, gold treasure, fine jewelry and family heirlooms. Having a cannon out on the sidewalk helped people notice the store, Mutschler said.

"I think someone rolled it away from the front of the store and loaded it into a truck around the corner," he said.

The cannon was capable of being fired, he said. It is the type of gun that might have been deployed on a small East Indies ship.

The cannon is valued at $10,000 and weighs about 250 pounds, Mutschler said. It was three feet long and had the letters "VoC" on the top of the barrel. It was in a brown wooden carriage.

Posted via http://batavia08.posterous.com batavia08's posterous