12lb spherical case ID?

[19th Va Rob]

Hello; I'm new to the forum and love the info found here. I'm an avid amateur historian, and Civil War Reenactor since 1997. While I was out and about today I picked up piece I think is a 12lb case shot that probably used a borman fuse.

When I saw it I picked it up expecting a gate post ball, or a shot put or something. When I saw the open hole, it seemed to me to have a good possibility of being a "cannon ball". The opening is two staged, with both stages being threaded. It's cast iron rather than steel. I don't have a way to weigh it right now, but the circumference is right at 14 inches.

It appears that at one time someone made a tripod type stand for it by braising on some lead posts, thus displaying the fuse hole upwards on a 45 degree angle.

Inside I found old paper, and even some candy wrappers stuffed in the fuse hole.

 

[PCGeorge]

Congratulations -- you won your gamble that it is a civil war cannonball. The two "steps" in the threaded fuzehole held the Bormann fuze (about 1.6"-diamter), and beneath it was an iron or brass "support-plug" (which kept the wide, thin-ish Bormann fuze from being blown into the shell's powder-cavity upon firing).

You didn't mention seeing anything inside it (except paper), so I assume it does not contain lead Case-Shot balls. If so, it is called a Common-Shell.

The approximate size-measurement you gave us indicates it is a 12-pounder caliber ball ...whose diamter is about 4.52-inches ...for use in a 12-pounder (4.62"-caliber) Napoleon cannon or a 12-pounder Howitzer. Both the USA and the CSA used those kinds of cannon.

As to whether your shell is a US or CS-made Bormann shell:
There's only one 100%-reliable clue, when such a shell's fuze is missing. Unlike US-made Bormann shells and very-early-war CS made ones, 1862-1865 CS-made Bormann shells had a "gasket rebate" at the bottom of the MAIN fuzehole's threads. (The "rebate is a deeper groove than the depth of the fuzehole's threads.) If there is no rebate, the main fuzehole's threads go ALL the way down to the flat shelf which contains the support-plug hole. If that's the case with this shell, it is almost certainly a US-made one.

Due to the dirt/rust/crud on the fuzehole's threads in the photo, I can't tell whether it has a gasket-rebate or not. You'll need to semi-gently scrape away as much crud as you can. After you do that, if the gasket-rebate is there, you'll spot it. (Like I said, it's a good bit "deeper" groove than the thread-grooves.)

Regards,
Pete [P.C. George]