This is a series of posts on these Turkish Gun Crests, I have been working on:
http://www.pickelhaubes.com/bb/viewtopi ... =36&t=7265In summary, a number of these oval Turkish gun crests (all of which are identical) have surfaced in recent years, however the origin of all of these is documented in the Imperial war Museum (it has four of them in the collection). These were collected at the same time during Allenby's advance in Palestine, September 1918.It appears that two of The IWM crests are mounted on wooded display boards, similar to one the one displayed on the as
http://www.turkish-militaria.com/ "Bild(80)"
The French April, 1915 souvenir is identical to the Imperial War Museum ones.
The common connection with all of these is the reference in the Turkish Army Handbook 1916 to the Ottoman Turkish Imperial Army's Syrian Army, as the VIIIth Army Corps - Damascus is reported as having batteries of older bronze breach-loader mountain guns, and these appear to be vintage 1877/78 series of Belgian (8/9cm) Bronze breech loaders, and the Krupp 5.5cm bronze BL.
The oval Bronze Turkish Gun Crests, display the official Ottoman Turkish Coat of Arms, as it was adopted in 1882. It is called the Hamidiye, after Sultan Abdul Hamid II who designed it. Ironically at the instigation of Queen Victoria, who thought the Turks needed an official Coat of Arms; obviously she had some spare wall space she needed to adorn! This came about, when Queen Victoria who gave the Ottoman Sultan Abdulmedjit (after the Crimean war) the Garter Order in November, 1856. However, in the tradition of the Garter Order, created by King Edward the Third, the procedure is as follows: The coat of arms of the person or the ruler who received this Order was hung on the wall of Saint George Church in the Windsor Palace in London. However, the Ottoman Sultan had no coat of arms. Consequently Queen Victoria ordered a specialist of arms named Prince Charles Young to create a coat of arms for the Ottoman Empire. Young came to Istanbul and carried out a research to establish features which would be suitable to the European arms tradition. He was assisted by a translator named Etyen Pizani in his studies. However, the Victorian version of the Coat of Arms, is very different.
The Hamidiye was only used between 1882, and 1908 during the reign of Sultan Abdul Hamid II. And the TUGRA on it is his. After 1909 Young Turk Revolution it fell out of use, and was modified with the adding of a crescent and star.
Sultan Abdul Hamid II, began his rule in 1876, and when he adopted the Coat of Arms in 1882 everything was re-badged; including these screw-on Gun Crests for the 1877/78 series of Belgian (8/9cm) Bronze breech loaders, and the Krupp 5.5cm bronze BL (illustrated above).
Prior to 1877, typically Ottoman guns and other items of equipment display a multi-point or six-point star, and crescent; or a crescent on its own. The various Tugra, and dates of rule are also used as well.
by infantry on 11 May 2012 13:23 
