Musket ball? Found it near 400+ year old cottage.

[Optical_Fibre]

Hi.
This is my first post so be gentle please.

I found this yesterday and told my son about it (he is 11)
He said that it may be a musket ball and that I should ask on here to confirm. So here I am

I found it in Bucks UK @ about 1 - 2 feet in the ground. It feels like clay to me but could be something else.
Not sure what else to ask tbh.

Thanks
Lee

 

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[Dug]

Old clay marble. Musket balls are made of lead and smaller.

 

[Optical_Fibre]

Thanks. I suppose old marbles are worthless

 

[Dug]

Not in my opinion. But I don't place monetary value on relics to begin with since I don't sell or buy them, just collect and display or share with the land owner who was kind enough to allow me to enjoy my hobby on their property.

I enjoy researching them to see what they are, how they were made, and try to determine how they got where they were found. I keep all marbles I find in an antique fruit jar along with other jars of unique finds such as pipe stems, CW bullets of different types...etc.

Worthless? Tell that to a marble collector and they will probably clutch their chest and their face will go white.

Give the marble to your son and tell him a little boy his age likely lost it and you two go research together how long ago clay marbles were made. Bet his eyes light up with that knowledge.

 

[Tony in SC]

Well "SAID" Dug !!! Tony

Not in my opinion. But I don't place monetary value on relics to begin with since I don't sell or buy them, just collect and display or share with the land owner who was kind enough to allow me to enjoy my hobby on their property.

I enjoy researching them to see what they are, how they were made, and try to determine how they got where they were found. I keep all marbles I find in an antique fruit jar along with other jars of unique finds such as pipe stems, CW bullets of different types...etc.

Worthless? Tell that to a marble collector and they will probably clutch their chest and their face will go white.

Give the marble to your son and tell him a little boy his age likely lost it and you two go research together how long ago clay marbles were made. Bet his eyes light up with that knowledge.

 

[Optical_Fibre]

Well said indeed. I still dream of finding the massive chest of gold coins though!
And yes I shall look up the history of marbles and try and get a date for this one.
Thanks again

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Optical Fibre, welcome to TreasureNet's "What-Is-It?" forum, the best place on the internet to get unknown objects correctly identified.


You said the ball "feels like clay to me." Were you talking about the ball's texture, or its weight? Lead-Oxide (the "lead-rust" which develops on the surface of long-buried lead) is greyish-white, which can look and feel like baked white clay. But lead is about 5 or 6 times heavier than clay, so that will tell you whether the ball is a clay ball or metal.

 

[Optical_Fibre]

Optical Fibre, welcome to TreasureNet's "What-Is-It?" forum, the best place on the internet to get unknown objects correctly identified.


You said the ball "feels like clay to me." Were you talking about the ball's texture, or its weight? Lead-Oxide (the "lead-rust" which develops on the surface of long-buried lead) is greyish-white, which can look and feel like baked white clay. But lead is about 5 or 6 times heavier than clay, so that will tell you whether the ball is a clay ball or metal.

Hi TheCannonballGuy,

I weighed the ball and it's approximately 1 ounce.
Also those dark marks on the ball look and feel like iron filings or something similar. They stick out slightly and feel sharp to the touch.
Thanks
Lee

 

[Dug]

If it weighs one ounce it is not a clay marble.

"Feels like Clay" led me to believe it had the weight of a clay marble.

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

We've established (by weight) that the ball is not a clay marble.

Optical Fibre, you said you weighed the ball and it weighs approximately one ounce. The photo appears to show the ball is a bit larger than one in inch in diameter. Combining its diameter and weight indicates it is a metal ball, but not made of lead. According to the McKee-&-Mason book on Historical bullets (including musketballs), a 1.0"-diameter lead ball weighs 1,497 grains (a bit more than 3.5 ounces, because 1 ounce equals 437.6 Grains).

Unfortunately, your ball's light weight for its size (apparently a bit larger than 1"-diameter) excludes it from being any kind of firearms ball or artillery ball.

Even though its weight is too light to be made of lead, it seems to be too heavy to be made of clay or some other non-metal material, except for Aluminum/Aluminium.

If you want to pursue identifying the ball, we need you to get it weighed on a Jeweler's Scale (which weighs in Grains), and also get its exact diameter measured with a Digital Caliper, which measures in 1/100th-inch. (Because the ball is a little bit bumpy, you'll need to measure it in several directions, then calculate the average of all the measurements.)

 

[Optical_Fibre]

Thank you again for your help.
I measured the weight on a cheap set of kitchen scales so it could be dead accurate or way off, I am unsure.
I do not have a jewelers scale but I do have access to a set of non digital measuring calipers. So I will try and get it properly weighed and measured in the next few days.
One thing that the ball does have is a flat spot on one side which could be an indication of how its made? I read on another thread that it could be the cut from the mold?
Here are 2 more pictures that show the flat spot. its on the right hand side on one picture and showing it from the top on another.

Thanks again for your help
Lee