14.5 Pound Cast Iron sphere

[Pascucci]

Hey guys,

Today I was doing some work at a woman's house in Birmingham, Alabama and found a very interesting item at her house. It was found at her house during the construction of her house buried a three or four feet deep. This area of Birmingham was supposedly uninhabited until the turn of the 20th century, but that could always be wrong. I don't want to say cannon ball without having any knowledge of them, but I believe this COULD be a very pitted 16-18 lbr solid iron round. It weighs 14.5 pounds and has a diameter of about 4.75-6 inches. The sizes or wacky, but it is highly pitted and eroded, it is however a very nice and even sphere:

I plan on testing out my new newbie Bounty Hunter metal detector on the property soon, it isn't much of anything, but it gets me into the hobby, kind of.
thanks!

 

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[TheCannonballGuy]

In all of artillery history, there is no record of a 14.5-pound Solid cannonball.

Did you weight it on a typical household bathroom weighing-scale, or a precision Postal Shipping scale?

Here are the precise weights (and diameters) of cannonballs used in America from the Revolutionary War, War-of-1812, and the Civil War. www.civilwarartillery.com/shottables.htm

The characteristics of the rust-corrosion and the sphericality (no moon-craters) shown in your photo of the ball shows it hasn't lost more than a couple of ounces due to corrosion.

 

[Pascucci]

Household scale, but I don't see how it could be off by that much or could it? Either way, cannonball or not, I'd really love to hear if anybody could guess what it is. This could still point to some unrecorded history in the area, it was all forests supposedly, things like this rarely appear in a forest in the middle of nowhere.

 

[austin]

Christopher Columbus's bowling ball? Seriously though, your scale could easily be off . I'd bet on a cannonball and I think it's a cool find.

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Pascucci, I've been a cannonball digger, dealer, historical researcher, and multi-published author (about cannonballs) for over 30 years. (That's why the local relic-club nicknamed me "the cannonball guy.") Quite literally, MILLIONS of iron balls have been manufactured which have nothing at all to do with Artillery. The vast majority of those millions of non-Artillery iron balls are rock-crusher balls from the Mining-&-Stonemilling Industry, in which they are called "mill-balls." They are used to crush large stones into gravel, and in the refining of ores, and for pulverizing coal. The Birmingham Alabama area has been a major center of those kinds of mining and refining operations for over 150 years.

Household scales are worthless for relic-ID. My appraisal was based on your statement that the ball weighs 14.5 pounds (which sounded like a precision measurment). My professional advice is, please weigh your iron ball on a precision-weighing scale. If you don't have a Postal Shipping scale, you can take it to a Post Office and ask them to weigh it. Or you can use the scale at a grocery store's fresh-vegetables section.

Also, please provide very-precise measurement of its diameter. If you don't know how to do that, you can read the instructions here: SolidShotEssentialsMod

 

[Pascucci]

Pascucci, I've been a cannonball digger, dealer, historical researcher, and multi-published author (about cannonballs) for over 30 years. (That's why the local relic-club nicknamed me "the cannonball guy.") Quite literally, MILLIONS of iron balls have been manufactured which have nothing at all to do with Artillery. The vast majority of those millions of non-Artillery iron balls are rock-crusher balls from the Mining-&-Stonemilling Industry, in which they are called "mill-balls." They are used to crush large stones into gravel, and in the refining of ores, and for pulverizing coal. The Birmingham Alabama area has been a major center of those kinds of mining and refining operations for over 150 years.

Household scales are worthless for relic-ID. My appraisal was based on your statement that the ball weighs 14.5 pounds (which sounded like a precision measurment). My professional advice is, please weigh your iron ball on a precision-weighing scale. If you don't have a Postal Shipping scale, you can take it to a Post Office and ask them to weigh it. Or you can use the scale at a grocery store's fresh-vegetables section.

Also, please provide very-precise measurement of its diameter. If you don't know how to do that, you can read the instructions here: SolidShotEssentialsMod

Cannonball or not, I still think it's a cool find. I'll try to get better measurements soon. While this isn't in the section of Birmingham where the mining took place during the 20th century, that doesn't mean that there couldn't have been something here prior to the city of Birmingham being a major city. The area may have been more convenient at one point. Perhaps doing some more detecting will lead to more discoveries, just wish I had more experience with detecting and better gear. Either way, mining stuff is cool too, especially when it is very old.

 

[taz42o]

Hey guys,
I plan on testing out my new newbie Bounty Hunter metal detector on the property soon, it isn't much of anything, but it gets me into the hobby, kind of.
thanks!

I have made just as good of finds with a used 20$ detector as I have with a new 900$ detector.
Those finds could have been made with most any coil that passed over them.
More important to research good spots and/or just keep at it till you swing that coil over the right spot.

 

[ABruce]

I think it belonged to Hillary Clinton.

 

[Broken knee]

I think it belonged to Hillary Clinton.

Hillary's are brass and Bill's are blue !! HH
BK

 

[GaRebel1861]

I might be wrong but, Birmingham Alabama did not exist as a town / city during the civil war. Largest town in that area back in the day was Columbiana (Shelby County)

 

[tj.cama]

That looks like and is identical in weight to a shot-put ball used in track and field events, it just shows some wear from being out in the elements. I am almost 100% sure that is what it is (Did shot-put for 4 years)

 

[Brian C.]

Looks like a cannon ball. Nice find.