mspence
Full Member
- Aug 25, 2011
- 184
- 258
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Congratulations, Mspence! Your "heavy brass" (actually, copper) find is a rare INTACT civil war Confederate 3"-caliber artillery projectile's disc-sabot, specifically known as a Tennessee sabot or Mullane sabot. It was held onto the projectile's base by a heavy bolt in the center, and three iron studs which fit through the three holes in the disc. (See the photos below).
Usually these disc sabots are torn by firing-blast... and the shells are almost always found with the disc-sabot missing. Yours is definitely fired, but amazingly, still completely intact and undamaged, except for a little splitting at the stud-holes' edges.
Your intact one could be used to replace a missing one from somebody's unexploded Tennessee/Mullane shell, which makes your find worth about $150 (retail).
The copper-disc-sabot in the photos is unfired, so it has its original "saucer" curvature. Yours was flattened by firing-blast, which is how the disc-sabot "works" to grab the cannon's rifling-grooves.
The dark object at the center of the sabot in photo #3 is the remnants of the wooden "doughnut" which helped to partially protect the sabot from firing-blast damage.
Underwonder, as we say (or used to) down South... thank you kindly sir.
Since you say you very much enjoy my "detailed explanation of finds" in answer to ID-requests, you can click on my name at the left of my posts, then select "View Posts" -- which will take you to T-Net's archive of my 4,900 posts, nearly all of which are in the What-Is-It? forum. I've poured my 40+ years of digging and researching and dealing relics into those posts. (None say "Nice find" or etc.) They are a way for the Knowledge to survive me. At my age, they are the final relic-information book I'll write. Thanks for letting me know you've been enjoying the education. God bless.