I found this cannonball. Can anybody date it?

[123ABC]

I found it on the east end of Long Island NY.
It has a flat bottom, what appears to be rifling, and it's about 11.5 pounds.
I brought it to a historian today where he told me it was from a British naval ship during the war of 1812. When I got home I searched it to find out more, and couldn't find anything online anywhere describing anything that remotely resembles the shape of this thing.

Also, the historian told me that before it was fired it had another piece on top of it.

The second photo is the top, the last photo is of it's bottom, and it's hollow for the most part.

Can anybody tell me if it was in fact from the war of 1812, what it's made of, how rare it might be, or if it did had a piece on top like the historian described?

Thanks!

 

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[villagenut]

Certainly different looking. Don't worry, our experts are coming..

 

[123ABC]

Thank you!

 

[123ABC]

I spent 6 hours searching the Internet, the closest thing I found that resembled it was a cannonball from the revolutionary war, however it had a weird stick shoved up it, and it had no rifling.

 

[Robot]

"Back on the Chain...Gang"

I have not seen any rifled canon balls...most are smooth...for accuracy.

Could the historian misidentified it?

A British 12 Pounder should weigh 12 lbs and measure 4.40 inches diameter

Table 1 shows the diameter of each of the round shot sizes with weights specified by Borgard: 4lb, 6lb and so on.
Mass of Cast Iron ball
(lb) Diameter (in)
4 3.05
6 3.49
9 4.00
12 4.40
18 5.04
24 5.55
32 6.10
42 6.68


Could this be part of a Ball and Chain used for prisoners and slaves?

 

[Diver_Down]

I wonder about the possibility of it being a gate weight.

 

[ARC]

I am not sure what kind of "historian" you spoke with.

IMO... This is NOT a cannonball.

In any way shape or form...
Furthermore... This is not an artillery shell either IMO.

Some may chime in on this with me... I am curious on CannonballGuys opinion as well.

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

As a relic-digger myself, I always hope a digger's mystery-ball will turn out to be a cannonball. Sorry to have to say, the historian you contacted is badly mistaken, this ball absolutely is not a cannonball. That's why your extensive research didn't find an Artillery-projectile matchup for it. As Robot said in his reply to your post, cannonBALLS do not have rifling-grooves on them. Also, actual cannonballs are never out-of-round, like your ball is. Also, actual cannonballs do not have flat areas on them, like your ball does. Your photos show me it is the somewhat egg-shaped broken-off end of a larger object.

Before somebody asks... no, it isn't a broken-off end of a Bar-Shot (naval artillery projectile), because the balls on a Bar-Shot are not egg-shaped, and don't have rifling-ridges.

If you have any interest in learning more clues for distinguishing an actual cannonball from the many versions of civilian-usage iron/steel balls... I co-wrote a detailed article about that, with instructions and helpful photos. You can view it online for free, at:
SolidShotEssentialsMod

Having reluctantly given you bad news, now let me say "Welcome to TreasureNet"... and also say, you did the smart thing, double-checking what the historian told you, by posting good clear closeup photos of your unidentified find here at T-Net.

The best place to get a "mystery find" CORRECTLY identified is TreasureNet's "What Is It?" forum.

 

[roberte94066]

Filial for an ornate gatepost?

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

For 123ABC, Robot, and Roberte94066:

Roberte, it does indeed look like a broken-off finial from an ornamental-ironwork gatepost. (Anybody planning to google that name should note that the correct spelling is finial, not filial.)

Robot, I doubt it is from a ball-&-chain, because that kind of object tends to have a "plain" ball. The sheriff's office and the penitentiary don't want to pay extra to have an iron-foundry manufacture a "decorative" ball for a ball-&-chain. Also, its owner, 123ABC, says it is mostly hollow. Ball-&-Chain balls are always solid, so their weight will seriously slow down a runaway prisoner. I should mention... thank you for posting the weights and diameters of Colonial-1812 era British cannonballs. (By the way... each size had increased by about 1/10th-inch by the mid-1800s.)

123ABC, you asked what the object is made of, and you said it weighs 11.5 pounds, and that it is "hollow for the most part." But you didn't tell us its size. Also, you didn't tell us whether or not a magnet sticks to it. Going by the type of fracturing seen in the photos, I would guess that it is made of simple cast-iron. A magnet will tell you whether my guess is correct or not.