Help identifying this 12-pounder

[maj87]

Can anybody help me identify what I believe is a 12-pound cannonball from the Civil War? This came out of an old chest along with a diary from the 1890s. The diary only includes poetry and doesn't mention the war or the cannonball, but it seems this piece does date back to the 19th century. As you can see, there is a fairly distinguishable mold seam around the equator, and on the top of the ball there is another area that is smoothed out a bit. It's hard to tell if maybe there was a hole that was filled in, or maybe something else. As you can see, the finish is pretty nice and not particularly rusted or pitted, but there's some scuff marks that would probably come off quite easily. There are no markings that I can find on this ball. I appreciate the help.

Mark

 

[PCGeorge]

Unfortunately for us cannonball-collectors, literally millions of round and "round-ish" iron balls exist which were NOT manufactured to be artillery ammunition. Some examples of them are ball-bearing, rock-crusher balls, Ornamental Ironwork (such as gatepost tops), cement delivery truck tank cleaner-balls, and of course, Sports Shot Put balls. Ebay is chock-full of such balls, incorrectly being advertized as being cannonballs. "Let the buyer beware." ;-)

So... how are we cannonball-collectors able to distinguish all those non-cannonballs from actual cannonballs?

Because I wrote a massive (552-page) book on civil war artillery projectiles, a fellow cannonball-researcher (named Dave Poche) asked me to help him write an Educational article on how to distinguish an actual cannonball from a non-cannonball. The article contains very detailed instructions, and many photos. (In the article, he refers to the non-cannonballs as "non-authentic" items.) To view the article, go to:
Home Page

Fortunately for us collectors, actual cannonballs were carefully manufactured to extremely precise Weight, "Sphericality," and Size (diameter) specifications ...and, historical records of those specifications have been preserved. You can view the civil war USA (and CSA) Ordnance Department size-&-weight specifications on the internet, for free, at:
Descriptions of shot for smoothbore guns

About your ball:
Your photos show a couple of spots on it which appear to be places where a Grinder was used for removing casting-flaws from its surface. But, such work was never done with a Grinder during the civil war, nor in earlier eras. Thus, the grinder-work spots on your ball indicate it is a 20th-century ball, not a cannonball. Because you gave no "precise" info about its size (diameter) or its precisely-measured weight, at this point I'd guess that it is a Sports Shot Put ball, but it could be one of the other kinds of non-cannonballs.

Please read the Poche article and follow its instructions, and let us know your ball's precisely-measured diameter and precise weight (pounds AND ounces). With that info, I'll be able to give you a better opinion about what kind of ball it actually is.

Regards,
Pete [P.C. George]

 

[maj87]

Thanks so much for your response, Pete. I read the article and found it to be quite an interesting read. Unfortunately, I don't have the tools to give you a truly precise measurement, but I did my best. I used two straight edges to measure the diameter of the ball (not from pole to pole, as suggested by the article) and it is just slightly above 4.5" diameter. As far as the weight goes, I have an electronic scale meant for weighting people. I can't vouch for it's accuracy because I've only used it to weigh myself in the past. The weight kept switching between 12.0 lbs and 12.2 lbs, so it's somewhere in that area. To me it does not look like a grinder or any automated machine was used to smooth out the imperfections around the mold seam. It seems to me more like a manual tool was used to smooth out certain areas. Possibly a hand file or something of that sort. Anyway, I hope my measurements help out a bit. I'm going to try to get my hands on a diameter measure, but I'm fairly confident in my straight-edge measurement.

Edit: I just tried another method of measuring the diameter. I found a clamp in my workshop and was able to clamp down on the ball and then measure the distance between both ends of the clamp. This came out to be the same as my other measurement...right around 4.52". I'm going to ask around to see if anybody has a caliper, but I don't know how successful I'll be in finding one. Somebody else told me that the smoothed out area on the top of the ball may have been a hole that was filled in after the war.

 

[maj87]

I just noticed a few more details. I've been having a hard time photographing them, but I'll try to explain.

The area that's been smoothed out is located at just a slightly lower angle than the peak (the top of the ball when the equator is parallel to the ground). However, this smoothed out area ends just at the peak, and on the exact peak of the ball, there is a noticeable outline of a circle, definitely something to do with the manufacture. It appears there may have been something under the smoothed out area that was filled in with metal, but I can't be sure of this. Also interesting is that between the circle on the peak of the ball and the equator, there is another faint outline of a circle. When I say outline, it is actually a mark in the metal, not drawn or painted on or anything. It's faint, but noticeable if you look close. It is located just under 40 degrees above the equator. Somebody mentioned to me that this ball may have been fused, but emptied out and filled in. Let me know your thoughts. Again, I'll try to get some decent pictures, but these markings are faint and don't show at all unless the light is just right.

 

[PCGeorge]

The reason your digital weighing-scale keeps switching between 12.0 pounds and 12.2 pounds is that the item weigh a just a smidge over 12.0 pounds ...so little above it that the scale won't kick over to the next-higher "mark."

ccording to the US (and CS) 1861 Ordnance Manual, a 12-pounder caliber solid shot was specified to weigh 12.25 pounds (12 pounds, 4 ounces). In comparison, 12-pounds Sports Shotputs are (of course) manufactured to weigh as close to exactly 12.0 pounds as is humanly possible (for fairness is Sports competition -- the other team's ball is not allowed to weigh even one ounce greater or lower than your team's does).

So, since in addition to your ball showing grinder-marks that are never on cannonballs, your ball's weight is a lot closer to 12.0 pounds than to the Ordnance Manual's specification of 12 pounds 4 ounces, I'm sticking with my professional opinion that it is a Sports Shot Put.

Regards,
Pete [P.C. George]