Possible 17th Century Cannonball??

[tirazline]

I am new to this forum. I have been an antique picker, treasure seeker for 20+ years. I also buy/sell antiques and I sell estates for clients. A month ago, I was hired to take care of an estate for a family with many never before seen antiques. Mostly from the 17th and 18th Century. The provenance from this family is pretty accurate. Most of the 17th/18th Century furniture are Georgian/Victorian era and are very well preserved. The family kept these items sealed in storage throughout the generations. That is what brings me to this cannonball... I can identify furniture, art etc, but artillery, weapons etc.. I am unfamiliar. The Grandfather is an upstanding citizen in my community, very well off and his information has been accurate in regards to his family's history. He explained that this unfired 'cannonball' was from around the 17th century. These items weren't purchased in antique stores, these items came from the period, collected from his family. Their location history is all through Europe and the US. I do not know the proper means to authenticate this piece of iron though. It is large, perfectly spherical and weighs around 30lbs (according to the only scale I had available, bathroom which is not entirely accurate). I did the old string around for circumference, and it's around 20" give or take. I do know from forums that I would need an accurate weight and diameter via caliber to know. I now own this cannonball and would love to know more information and if it is in fact a 17th C cannonball. Thank you.

 

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[Rick (Nova Scotia)]

I don't think your going to be able to put an accurate date on it, they were used unchanged for a long time. Ones that were used can be dated by the battle they were used in, otherwise it's just a round ball.

I stand to be corrected. But given the condition of this one if there were any markings on it they should be easily visible.

32 pounds, 6.1 inches dia. I think is all you going to know for sure.

 

[tirazline]

Thank you for your reply Rick. I figured it was a long shot to know what century it came from. I was told it was unfired but no way of knowing if that is definite. I looked it over several times and did not see any stand out markings but I will look again. The diameter, eyeballed with a tape measure, seems to be fairly close to the 6.1 inches. If the same size shots were used throughout time, then I guess putting a general date on it would be hard.. It would be nice to know what century I had and if there is any value in it. Regardless this will be added to my personal collection. It's great. Thank you again. I am open to any information.

 

[Rick (Nova Scotia)]

There is a guy on here, actually called canonball guy, he is quite the authority on many things military. If he sees this he might add his thoughts. As I said I stand to be corrected.

The size I mentioned is a standard 32 pounds

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Tirazline sent me a message requesting that I take a look at his post about his iron/steel ball, and give my professional opinion about it, because cannonballs (and other pre-1900s artillery projectiles) have been my specialty-area of relic study for 40 years.

First observation: It is a solid (not hollow) iron or steel ball. That fact means it is STATISTICALLY more likely to be an Industrial/Civilian-usage ball than a cannonball.

From the early-1800s through today, MULTI-MILLIONS of iron/steel SOLID balls have been manufactured for Industrial use and other Civilian uses. Those non-military solid balls greatly outnumber the amount of Solid-Shot (not hollow explosive) cannonballs that were ever made.

For an example of the vast quantities of Industrial/Civilian-usage SOLID balls, see the diagram at the end of this post. It shows a huge (20-foot-tall) Tumbler Mill machine, filled with large iron/steel solid balls, called Mill-Balls. It is used in the Mining-&-Stonemilling Industry, to crush large rocks into dust, for refining metal-bearing ore. (Mill-Balls are commonly called ore-crusher/rock-crusher balls.)

To accurately distinguish an Industrial/Civilian-usage ball from an actual cannonball, we modernday cannonball-collectors must do SUPER-PRECISE measuring of the ball's diameter and weight, to see whether it matches up with any of the precise sizes & weights of Solid-Shot cannonballs in Historical Artillery documents. Such as, here:
British Cannonball Sizes
and here:
Cannon bore, shot, and shell diameters for smoothbore guns

That is why I co-wrote the following educational article, about how to correctly distinguish actual cannonballs from Industrial/Civilian-usage metal balls, with photos and instructions for how to accurately measure and weigh them.
SolidShotEssentialsMod

When Tirazline does the super-accurate measuring of his iron (or perhaps steel) ball's diameter and weight, and reports that information, I'll be able to tell him whether it is a cannonball or an Industrial/Civilian-usage ball.

All I can say in the meantime is that it appears to not be a cannonball from the 1600s or 1700s... because the photos show it is VERY "smoothly" made. In the Colonial era, cannonballs were quite crudely cast. They were not intended to be "Objects Of Art." They were made as a simple iron ball that would only get used ONCE, to smash something. Therefore, they were "rough-cast"... manufactured as cheaply and quickly as possible, with no additional labor-time expenses incurred for doing super-smooth "finishing work" on them (such as, removing the mold-casting seam from the ball).

I've personally dug actual Solid-Shot cannonballs from 1600s/1700s fort sites in the Caribbean, and from Revolutionary War battlesites here in Virginia. Believe me, they are crudely cast... not "slick-&-smooth" like the ball in your photos. It MIGHT be a cannonball from the 1800s... but as noted above, we need its precisely-measured weight and diameter info, which will tell us the correct answer about its identity.

 

[rodarian]

That'll make one heck of a dent on the toe.

 

[Ia.FurTrade]

Hope 'ya got a cannonball!

 

[tirazline]

Thank you for the reply Cannonball Guy. I greatly appreciate the information and education. Like I said, I draw blanks when it comes to artillery. Not my area of expertise. Like many of us antique collectors, buyers, sellers, we take into consideration the provenance, history of what we are told of where said item came from. After we hear that information, then we examine to see if the story fits. This elderly man is going by his family's history and what was passed down both artifact and story. Ok, back to the 'cannonball'. The ball is pretty smooth and there is a cast seam, a faint one. It just baffles me on condition. It was very well preserved, never exposed to the elements and supposedly taken from the period (unfired). I will review the article so I can accurately measure/weight the ball and get those back to you. I hope it is a cannonball. Oh by the way, I am a her Thanks again everyone!