Recent Find 130 pound cannon ball.

[hink441]

I just found this approximately 130 lb ball in a local antique shop. The diameter is around 9.7" and is a beast. The seller said he got it from a recently deceased CW collector who said it came out of SC. That is all I know about this one.

I'm not real versed on these but I used google and this site to learn what I do know.

My question is what is this ball worth, and with the scant history on this ball, could I safely say it is a South Carolina ball or an unknown?

Here are some pictures. Thank you for looking and look forward to anymore info from you gents.

Chris

 

[redbob]

10" Solid Shot for a smoothbore 10" cannon. It may have been used on a shipborne or land based weapon pretty much anywhere in the country. While not particularly rare, it is in pretty good shape.

 

[hink441]

Thank you RedBob!! Unless I can get more info from the collector's notes I can't really attribute the ball to South Carolina yet.

Chris

 

[steamboater]

Thank you RedBob!! Unless I can get more info from the collector's notes I can't really attribute the ball to South Carolina yet.

Chris

Yet. Yet? You haven't narrowed the ownership of this pill to either Federal or Confederate, yet.

 

[hink441]

Hey Steamboater, I'm just trying to figure where the ball came from. Doubt I'll ever be able to determine who made it.

 

[redbob]

Hey Steamboater, I'm just trying to figure where the ball came from. Doubt I'll ever be able to determine who made it.

The 10" smoothbore cannon was used by both sides and pretty much anywhere.

 

[Salterr]

Just imagine the force of that thing flying through the air!!

 

[hink441]

Thank you all for the great information. I'm not trying to sell this ball and plan on keeping this one. Could anyone please provide an approximate value? Thank you again.

Chris

 

[Library Lady]

I'm still trying to wrap my head around what it was like to be the gent who was manually loading a cannonball that weighs more than I do into a cannon on a fairly regular basis in the middle of a fight. This is not like watching them mechanically load The Guns of Navarone. Is there something here I'm not getting?

 

[Ed Zeppelin]

I'm still trying to wrap my head around what it was like to be the gent who was manually loading a cannonball that weighs more than I do into a cannon on a fairly regular basis in the middle of a fight. This is not like watching them mechanically load The Guns of Navarone. Is there something here I'm not getting?

Yeah, you're not getting the muscle aches and your back going out on you.


Sent from my Commodore 64 running Windows 95

 

[Reconstructed Rebel]

I'm still trying to wrap my head around what it was like to be the gent who was manually loading a cannonball that weighs more than I do into a cannon on a fairly regular basis in the middle of a fight. This is not like watching them mechanically load The Guns of Navarone. Is there something here I'm not getting?

Am I wrong to assume it would have called for a team effort of at least two men to wrangle this kind of thing into the cannon?

 

[Pollaco]

I am at a loss for words when another person asks "Why do you want a cannonball"? I've wanted one all my life but couldn't tell you why,I just do. Congratulations on your "find".

 

[bayonet]

I have 2, 1 a solid shot like the one you shown and the other a mortar with the 2 indentations for the lifting ears or pliers. The solid shot I traded to get. It was found by a scuba diver that brought several up from a large pile of them dumped of all places in Long Island Sound along the Connecticut coast around Darien/Norwalk apparently. I would not spend more that a few hundred on that.

 

[hink441]

Thanks bayonet, that is about what I paid for this solid ball. Like you, I also have a 10" mortar shell recovered from the Norfolk waterfront during dredging operations in the 1960s. That Norfolk shell is somewhat corroded but still a nice find.

Chris