Mini canon ball? Silver chain and ?

[Thaddeus]

Back to my huge park that keeps steadily producing. This ball is too big for a musket but not the size of a canonball either. One of those mini canons i think. Anyone ever seen something like this.....probably from the french occupation and very old.
The silver bracelet is pretty heavy and cleaned up fairly well. It was fun to pull out especially because i had a HUGE crowd of naysayers. People are fascinated by my presence let alone the strange machine.
The little gondola man is kinda neat i think. I believe he is half of a broken pendant that said smooth sailing with a broken heart. Now he just says smooth with half the heart. It is plated with some shiny stuff just barely there and toatlly worthless but interesting to me.
I am thinking the smooth rectangle is some sort of fancy battery? Anybody seen one of these before? What is this thing for? It has an "f" on the bottom and little holes that may be contacts
Six motorbike keys
And two coins....one is pretty toasted and old the other is a 5000 dong only from 2003......never knew they still had coins here that recently because evey other one i have found is 1958 or older. Had my bike stolen confiscated by the cops for parking in a bad spot i guess. Got it back pretty quick without even paying them off. I guess i have some pretty good people skills. It was hard to find but i eventually saw it in a police station lobby with twenty vietnamese waiting to bribe theirs out. I guess i used my foriegn privilage on that one.
I also met a chinese coin collector/antique dealer who had a small wallet with truly ancient chinese, mongolian and viet coins that he keeps on him at all times. Alot of huge silvers and bronze that he claimed were from the year 200-500. They looked legit and he had one he claimed was worth ten grand! What motivation! Today i am ripping to ha long bay to take a crack at some very popular tourist beaches. Does anyone have any opinions on artificial sand?

 

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[Scrappy]

That steel ball may be a piece of grapeshot.

 

[Joe-Dirt]

Canister shot

 

[Thaddeus]

Canister shot

Is that what they call it.....thanks scrappy and joe-dirt

 

[Johncoho]

Nice finds. Is the bracelet silver? I guess I should have read the post a little more carefully. It is!

 

[A2coins]

wow sweet finds thanks for posting

 

[gunsil]

Ya gotta measure the ball, it is way too small for grape which was also mostly a naval ordinance. Possibly cannister but if not found near a place where there was a shootin" war it is most likely a ball bearing or a mill ball.

 

[Thaddeus]

Nice finds. Is the bracelet silver?

Yep its silver and pretty heavy too........almost a custom fit for me, just a little jingle......right under a tree on a corner......right where you would sit in the shade.......off the wrist or out the pocket is my guess

 

[Thaddeus]

Ya gotta measure the ball, it is way too small for grape which was also mostly a naval ordinance. Possibly cannister but if not found near a place where there was a shootin" war it is most likely a ball bearing or a mill ball.

Its about an inch and a half in diameter. It has a ring around it from where the mold split and directly on the top and bottom little raised bits from the other shots in the line. Or so i think. Like when they make alot off shot at once and break them apart and file them down a bit. So to me a ball bearing is a definite no. As for the naval battle we are in a very old part of downtown hai phong on the red river and people have been here for thousands of years. I find a wide range of shells everywhere and the is a very old naval base right across the red river. The french took this place over for a long time and strifed the whole town with canon fire from the river. So thats my theory just wanted it scrutinized by all the pros on tnet

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Thaddeus (the ball's finder) wrote:

> "It has a ring around it from where the mold split and directly on the top and bottom little raised bits from the other shots in the line."

Folks, what Thaddeus is describing is "gang-molded" Grapeshot or Canister-ammo shot. A "gang mold" is a casting mold which has several cavities in it, arranged in a row, with a small tunnel connecting each cavity to allow the molten metal to flow into each cavity. When the molten metal hardens, the mold is opened and you've got a row of metal balls, connected by the small short connecting bars created by the small tunnels. looking like pearls on a necklace. You take a sledge-hammer and break the balls loose from each other. Short stubs (called sprues or gate-nubs) of the connecting bars remain on opposite sides of the balls. Sometimes the stubs are chiseled off, and sometimes thy aren't removed. In the photo below, you can see some Confederate Canister-ammo balls that were gang-molded, with the sprues/nubs on opposite sides of the balls, particularly visible on the ball at the bottom of the photo.

I should mention, in all my decades in the field of studying antique artillery projectiles, I've never seen "unfinished" (sprue left on) GANG-MOLDED iron balls other than Grapeshot, Case-Shot, and Canister-ammo balls... no "civilian" gang-molded iron balls. In my opinion, Thaddeus is correct, being an "unfinished" gang-molded ball removes it from being a ball-bearing or any other civilian-usage ball.

Based on its reported diameter of "about" 1.5-inches, I think Thaddeus' cast-iron (not steel) ball is either a Canister-ammo ball or a Quilted Grapeshot ball (some of which were smaller than Grapeshot balls).

 

[callicles]

Thaddeus (the ball's finder) wrote:

> "It has a ring around it from where the mold split and directly on the top and bottom little raised bits from the other shots in the line."

Folks, what Thaddeus is describing is "gang-molded" Grapeshot or Canister-ammo shot. A "gang mold" is a casting mold which has several cavities in it, arranged in a row, with a small tunnel connecting each cavity to allow the molten metal to flow into each cavity. When the molten metal hardens, the mold is opened and you've got a row of metal balls, connected by the small short connecting bars created by the small tunnels. looking like pearls on a necklace. You take a sledge-hammer and break the balls loose from each other. Short stubs (called sprues or gate-nubs) of the connecting bars remain on opposite sides of the balls. Sometimes the stubs are chiseled off, and sometimes thy aren't removed. In the photo below, you can see some Confederate Canister-ammo balls that were gang-molded, with the sprues/nubs on opposite sides of the balls, particularly visible on the ball at the bottom of the photo.

I should mention, in all my decades in the field of studying antique artillery projectiles, I've never seen "unfinished" (sprue left on) GANG-MOLDED iron balls other than Grapeshot, Case-Shot, and Canister-ammo balls... no "civilian" gang-molded iron balls. In my opinion, Thaddeus is correct, being an "unfinished" gang-molded ball removes it from being a ball-bearing or any other civilian-usage ball.

Based on its reported diameter of "about" 1.5-inches, I think Thaddeus' cast-iron (not steel) ball is either a Canister-ammo ball or a Quilted Grapeshot ball (some of which were smaller than Grapeshot balls).

TCBG,

Was this “gang-molded” process also used at times with lead case-shot balls? I think I found some but not sure.

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

I haven't seen any lead case-shot balls that showed two sprues (on opposite sides). But as I've often here said, I don't think I've seen everything that's out there. Still, lack of seeing any indicates lead ball gang-molding was rarely done, if at all.

 

[Thaddeus]

Thaddeus (the ball's finder) wrote:

> "It has a ring around it from where the mold split and directly on the top and bottom little raised bits from the other shots in the line."

Folks, what Thaddeus is describing is "gang-molded" Grapeshot or Canister-ammo shot. A "gang mold" is a casting mold which has several cavities in it, arranged in a row, with a small tunnel connecting each cavity to allow the molten metal to flow into each cavity. When the molten metal hardens, the mold is opened and you've got a row of metal balls, connected by the small short connecting bars created by the small tunnels. looking like pearls on a necklace. You take a sledge-hammer and break the balls loose from each other. Short stubs (called sprues or gate-nubs) of the connecting bars remain on opposite sides of the balls. Sometimes the stubs are chiseled off, and sometimes thy aren't removed. In the photo below, you can see some Confederate Canister-ammo balls that were gang-molded, with the sprues/nubs on opposite sides of the balls, particularly visible on the ball at the bottom of the photo.

I should mention, in all my decades in the field of studying antique artillery projectiles, I've never seen "unfinished" (sprue left on) GANG-MOLDED iron balls other than Grapeshot, Case-Shot, and Canister-ammo balls... no "civilian" gang-molded iron balls. In my opinion, Thaddeus is correct, being an "unfinished" gang-molded ball removes it from being a ball-bearing or any other civilian-usage ball.

Based on its reported diameter of "about" 1.5-inches, I think Thaddeus' cast-iron (not steel) ball is either a Canister-ammo ball or a Quilted Grapeshot ball (some of which were smaller than Grapeshot balls).

Wow thanks alot for the knowledge canonball guy!

 

[nofd1977]

Say Thaddeus can u check your PM when you get a minute. Send you a message a few months back with no reply yet. Just got a question about a certain place that could really help out in a quest. Thanks in advance, Adam