Ammo Collecting Civil War Bullets From $2 to $2000

Without seeing it.... I'd guess #319 was good at the hammer price without the added $$, tax and commission. Don't know who paid $2000 ++ for the Morse cartridge but unfired examples for the carbines, with the original seal around the cap can still be found for $1000.

I was going to call you to send me some more money after what I saw the C&B go for then I looked at the condition and figured I would let that sleeping dog alone. :cold:
 
I am thinking of starting a collection to add to the war display I am starting to put together in my new office at work. I noticed that there are supposedly certified bullets on Amazon. Has anyone purchased any of these? Does anyone know if they are legitimate? You have to start somewhere. Recommend or not recommend?
Being from Waynesboro VA you should be able to find plenty of bullets from the MANY battlefields with an hours drive. Plus they would be ones from your area. Just sayin.
 
Did you recover these or purchase? I would love to have a collection like that on my office wall.
I had purchased a few from Ebay many years ago and some were traded from a friend of mine whom recovered them from a river battle in Louisiana. There are some excellent dealers on Ebay and prices are reasonable too, just look at the rating and only deal with 95% and above for the seller and ask plenty of questions before the sale.
 
Being from Waynesboro VA you should be able to find plenty of bullets from the MANY battlefields with an hours drive. Plus they would be ones from your area. Just sayin.
I know. I need a metal detector.....maybe for Christmas. I live about a mile from the Piedmont Battlefield, and of course Waynesboro itself where a short battle was fought. Do you have a metal detector that you recommend?
 
Looks like a GREAT start to a life long collection. As far as trades go, below is the prize of my bullets collection. A CS exploding bullet and very RARE and only 100,000 were made and most destroyed. It is one of 3 found in the same hole at Vicksburg. Since my retirement I started a new collecting interest Benjamin's and I'll take 9 of them for it :D
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I love that exploding bullet. That is certainly a RARE one!
 
Of course, the best bullets are the ones you find yourself.

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My front yard, ten feet off of the front porch, lost by a member of Company M, 117th O.V.I.


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Jeffersonton Virginia. I found four bullets, and four lead case shot there. I also found 12 iron case shot.



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My first bullets. Found in the camp of the 77th N.Y. Vol. position overlooking the Rappahannock River.
I love it when you can tie artifacts (bullets) to a specific unit.
 
I know. I need a metal detector.....maybe for Christmas. I live about a mile from the Piedmont Battlefield, and of course Waynesboro itself where a short battle was fought. Do you have a metal detector that you recommend?
In your travels around I would stop in at some antique malls or shops around where they were battles and see what you can find. As far as machines I have several but my main stay is a Fisher F75 LTD with an after market Neil 15 inch Storm head and it will get on down there. But for the middle of the road I would go with a Fisher Goldbug pro or the Garrett AT Pro both good machines and not to expensive.
 
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The state of Ohio has a "minie ball" monument on every battlefield where her soldiers were engaged.

Yes, the minie ball certainly revolutionized the killing power of the infantryman during the civil war. It is undoubtedly the reason more people were killed or wounded during that war.
I love to see collections of bullets. Some hunters just disregard them as an insignificant piece of battlefield material but I'm so glad to see collectors that revere them as monuments to the fighting men of that era.
 
I am thinking of starting a collection to add to the war display I am starting to put together in my new office at work. I noticed that there are supposedly certified bullets on Amazon. Has anyone purchased any of these? Does anyone know if they are legitimate? You have to start somewhere. Recommend or not recommend?
There are still honest people who sell on E-bay they may ask a higher price but that is because they dug them and they know where their bullets come from. Buy from a digger.
 
There are still honest people who sell on E-bay they may ask a higher price but that is because they dug them and they know where their bullets come from. Buy from a digger.


This is not always the case. I know for one a very popular ebay seller who says he dug his stuff, didn't.
 
I heard that over 1,000,000 bullets were fired at Gettysburg alone.

Actually, the amount estimated is between 6 to 7 million. Those were the newest amounts I learned last year at Gettysburg from the NPS.

I learned THIS year from The Horse Soldier, a basic dropped bullet with true Gettysburg provenance is around $40.00 a bullet. This is a basic Minie ball from a known collection. The price goes up dramatically if the bullet starts getting rarer, etc and the provenance is with it. I wanted to bring one home with me in September and they were out of the $40.00 ones.
 
@Virginia Dave, @redbob, @Lanyard Puller and @ucvrelics have taught me well. Listen to those boys on collecting, oh and Tom Hughes. You can't go wrong listening to them.

Last weekend I was at a tiny Civil War reenactment at our local history thing in Manchester, NH. I was looking at their tiny display (only displayed for the day) and I was very proud of myself because I was able to point out to the young man that in setting up their display, he mixed up his labels between Minie balls and canister shot. And you know what the best thing was? He agreed with me and didn't get all huffy with me! AND I got excited a couple of months ago at a museum where I could pick out a Tower of London Amory design on a rifle and knew instantly it was made in England. And it's all thanks to these guys being patient with me and answering all my crazy questions.
 
Actually, the amount estimated is between 6 to 7 million. Those were the newest amounts I learned last year at Gettysburg from the NPS.

I learned THIS year from The Horse Soldier, a basic dropped bullet with true Gettysburg provenance is around $40.00 a bullet. This is a basic Minie ball from a known collection. The price goes up dramatically if the bullet starts getting rarer, etc and the provenance is with it. I wanted to bring one home with me in September and they were out of the $40.00 ones.

The Horse Soldier is notorious for over pricing things in my opinion. I believe when you buy from them, you are buying the name as well, because what's the first relic shop in Gettysburg you can think of off the top of your head? The Horse Soldier. What's the first Civil War battle you can think of off the top of your head? Gettysburg. So there, you have a bullet, with true Gettysburg provenance, from the most prestigious relic shop possible.
 
Oh @Ethan S., I know you get cranky about The Horse Soldier, but you are also buying a 100% correct provenance and that's 100% important to me too. A couple of the guys here put me onto them. In fact, The Horse Soldier told me all those cute little wall hangings you see with Jackson or Lee or Grant on top with a picture and a name of a battle and couple of bullets in them aren't from those battlefields at all - even though it appears to the buyer, and it seems to suggest they are, (they are all around $38.00 and up) they are actually considered "representative" of that general or battle. That's merchandising in the extreme to me.

So I learned a lot from them and that is actually worth $$$ to me and I'm sharing it here so others can learn. I have no way to dig bullets in NH or buy with confidence except from just a few sellers and it's important to me that I have a guarantee behind it. I bet people that that only collect CSA stuff are extremely cautious because the artifacts are fewer, they are more expensive and the fake reproduction at the high-end level must have a much greater pay off. So names are important as dealers.
 
Oh @Ethan S., I know you get cranky about The Horse Soldier, but you are also buying a 100% correct provenance and that's 100% important to me too. A couple of the guys here put me onto them. In fact, The Horse Soldier told me all those cute little wall hangings you see with Jackson or Lee or Grant on top with a picture and a name of a battle and couple of bullets in them aren't from those battlefields at all - even though it appears to the buyer, and it seems to suggest they are, (they are all around $38.00 and up) they are actually considered "representative" of that general or battle. That's merchandising in the extreme to me.

So I learned a lot from them and that is actually worth $$$ to me and I'm sharing it here so others can learn. I have no way to dig bullets in NH or buy with confidence except from just a few sellers and it's important to me that I have a guarantee behind it. I bet people that that only collect CSA stuff are extremely cautious because the artifacts are fewer, they are more expensive and the fake reproduction at the high-end level must have a much greater pay off. So names are important as dealers.


Oh believe me, I would love to buy from the Horse Soldier, but I am a notorious cheapskate as well, lol!
 
but you are also buying a 100% correct provenance and that's 100% important to me too.
Not always. He buys most of his stuff from diggers and what they tell him, he is NOT 100% he has got caught with his hand in the cookie jar before.
 
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