LOT 4366A. RARE & UNIQUE MORO CHIEF PRESENTATION PAIR OF SILVER LANTAKA CANNONS TO GENERAL HUNTER LEGGITT

LOT 4366A. RARE & UNIQUE MORO CHIEF PRESENTATION PAIR OF SILVER LANTAKA CANNONS TO GENERAL HUNTER LEGGITT

02-23236

Each lantaka cannon measures 8″, and each barrel weighs just over one pound. Silver swivel yokes attach each to original hardwood stands with inset drilled silver 20 centavo coins to mount the cannon yokes. The coins were made at the San Francisco mint during American occupation of the Philippines, the two coins inset are dated 1909 & 1913. Each gun has hand engraved inscription: “Gen. Hunter Liggett U.S.A. / Presented by Dato Piang”. General Liggett was stationed as military governor of the Philippines at Fort McKinley in 1915 when these guns were given him by Datu Piang (1846-1933) who was the most powerful & wealthiest man at that time in Mindanao. He established a dynasty that his descendants still hold important military & political positions throughout the Philippines today.

There exists a long tradition of American military-presented cannon, with many captured lantaka from Spanish American War found in US military museum collections although none like these. These are not only the only silver ones documented, but also presented from a Moro sultan to an American general with special stands is unique.

Many lantakas were captured from the Moros, with numerous examples photographed in the Philippines 1899-1910. Lantaka mini-cannons have a rich and colorful history. Lantakas take their name from Lake Lanao, the stronghold of the Moro Sultans of Mindanao. They were traditionally given by Sultans to their followers, coming in various sizes, with the largest used for fortifications around Lake Lanao to repel assaults. Others were mounted on Moro sailing vessels, which were used to raid Spanish shipping and settlements between 1550-1850. The smallest lantakas, often measuring just 4 or 5 inches, were used like pistols but without grips or stocks. Loaded with Chinese gunpowder and gravel or smooth stones wrapped in banana leaves, these smallest guns were carried in waistbands, often in pairs, and used tactically in ambushes. Despite their size, they helped the Moros harass the Spanish for nearly 400 years, and in 1899, they shifted their aggression towards Americans attempting to control their land. Travel in much of the Philippines was unsafe during this period due to swift Moro attacks using these mini-cannons, followed by rapid retreats into the jungle.

Three of the world’s largest lantaka collections are in the Philippines: the National Museum Collection, the Miailhe de Burgh Collection, and the Brunei Bedil Collection do not note any silver specimens. Post-1911, lantakas symbolized wealth in Mindanao.
“In Mindanao, Brunei and Indonesia, the number of wives and lantakas you possessed was a status symbol.” (Of War and Peace: Lantakas and Bells in Search of Foundries in the Philippines by William-Alain Miailhe de Burgh 2009). UNATTCHED ACCESSORIES: , and bios of Moro Chief Datu Piang & General Hunter Liggett.

NON-GUN