Finally some good iron.

Icewing

Silver Member
Jan 5, 2016
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5,494
NW Arkanslaw
Detector(s) used
Minelab Equinox 900 / Garrett PropointerAT.
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
It took me more than two years of digging, and at least a full year of searching hard for a particular Civil War camp, and I finally.... FINALLY found my first pieces of (12 pound) cannon ball that I get to add to my display. I had found a few chunks last winter while volunteering for an archeology group, but they kept everything we found so I had a hard time counting those. These however were my first pieces found on private property and are now proudly displayed in my Curioseum.

I also found some other oddities that I'll post in the WTH is this forum shorty. I just couldn't curb my desire to show these bad boys off. I ran out of time to hint today but you can bet the farm I'll be going back to try and find the rest of this puzzel.

Thanks
Icewing

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Daddy's got a new center piece.
 

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Upvote 17
MAN NICE CURIO OF FINDS AND THE OLE CANNON BALL
 

Congratulations on the cannon ball piece! And that is quite a nice display of relics you have as well.
Great job.:icon_thumright:
 

It's particularly impressive that the two cannonball fragments fit together. Say I'll say Double Congratulations. :)

At the time of the civil war, the shellwall thickness of a 12-Pounder caliber Common-Shell (common meaning plain/ordinary, no antipersonnel balls inside, just gunpowder) was about .70-inch. For a 12-Pounder Case-Shot, thickness was about .45-inch. I mention those size specifications because your frags appear to be thinner than .70-inch, even including the thickness of the rust encrustation. So they are 12-Pounder Case-Shot shell fragments. That means there should be some lead Case-Shot (antipersonnel) balls from your shell in the area close by your frags.
 

You are an impressive weath of knowledge sir.
The wall thickness measures .45 inches (+/- .01 due to rust)
I searched the area for around 2 hours until I ran out of time. I'm pretty sure it's had nearly all of the high tones cherry picked. I found zero buttons or lead, and a lot off strange iron pieces, some I have yet to identify. I'll be going back this weekend till my arm loses circulation trying to find more pieces of this cannon ball puzzle. And Yes, my mind was blow when I pushed them together after snapping a pic of the pair and they fit together. Off the top of my head I'd say they were roughly 70 feet apart. This never happens to me.

To be perfectly honest I liked finding those as much as any gold ring I've found, maybe more because my kids may scrap them when I die but I'll never sell them. I have no issues with selling dug gold jewelry.

Thanks again CBG.
 

Digging up two pieces 70ft apart and they fit together is really cool. The chances of recovery are ticking into the very low %'s. Congrats and good luck on getting more pieces to add to the great looking display.
 

That is incredible. Finding 2 seperate pieces of the same cannon ball and they fit together??
Congratulations
 

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nice i love you display case
 

Some serious detecting skill and tenacity applied here my friend. CannonBallGuy as always an asset to providing fine details to your find. I concur with appreciating these shell fragments with being "cooler" than a gold ring. No one ever died loosing a gold ring. I reckon when this 12 pounder went KABOOM a few souls may have met their maker. Something very special about this possibility and why so many honor such recoveries and duly so. Love the display case as well. Continue to fill it up.:icon_thumright:
 

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