Todays dig is:

[Lowbatts]

Here's a shot of the highlights. Vastly improved the number and variety of pulltabs in this year's count. Under a tree stump on a slope found an 1858 Patent Date Nov. 30 Mason jar. looks to be 1 qt aqua screw top in good shape. Probably RB-1911-3.

Also nearby was this large iron ball. Don't know anything about cannonballs so maybe someone out there can give me a clue. It's approx. 6.5 inches diameter almost exactly 10 lbs. Pretty heavy little guy. Can tell you I can't think any instance where a cannonball would have been fired in anger or training or even transport and wound up where this one was found. Could it also be one of those manual cannonballs, a shot-put? It is old and has been pitted, no marks of any kind discernable on it. Lemme know!

Also got this charm about half the size of a pinky-nail. Just in time for Valentine's Day. It'll look good on my sweetheart, my metal detector.

 

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[omnicognic]

I used to hunt(the gun variety) on property that was used as a dump for a trucking company. they had cement trucks that dumped out there. they would use these large iron or steel balls to break up the cement in the trucks before dumping (they also used ceramic balls)the ground out there was littered with them 8)

 

[Lowbatts]

Thanks Omni, I was beginning to think I must have missed a local history lesson. Sounds like a real possibility.

 

[spotz]

Now that looks like a " Real Ball Mason Jar"! Spotz

 

[Lowbatts]

Yeah, wanted to get 'em both in one pic, besides, it's one of the low-rent patent 1858 bottles, if it was one of the better ones I'd have kept that big ol' sinker off of it.

 

[omnicognic]

the cement truck thing was merely a possibility. If the other artifacts from the site are from the same time period then perhaps it is a cannonball. maybe it was lost while transporting the cannon somewhere else! I'd hate you to think it's not authentic then it turn out to be the real thing! I still have a bunch of those cement truck balls around I'll have to post a pic sometime! 8)

 

[lonewolfe]

Where are you located or, what state/town did you find these in? It looks to me like a civil war cannon ball. If you're in the southern part of the country, and being that the jar was found near the ball with a date in the late 1850s, there's a good possibilty that it is "the real thing"...

 

[Lowbatts]

They weren't co-located but were near each other. The bottle came from fill under a sidewalk that had been dug out by groundhogs and tree growth. The "cannonball" was at the bottom of a steep embankment next to railroad tracks. This below the site of a couple old crack houses torn down in recent years. The area is old enough for sure, but Elgin, Il, here had it's one battery, comprised of several local groups down south in the war and they trained some ways from here. What few civil war era relics may come from around here are incidental drops from the post war parade days. There were a few cavalry training sites nearby, one locked up on private ground and the other long since built over more than once. I'm thinking for whatever reason it was trash from the old crackhouse demo. Unbelieveable amount of vagrant trash behind it and lots of rusty iron objects of lesser interest. I'd be interested in whether or not cannonballs came in the size/weight of the object. ~6.5 inches and 10 lbs.

Thanks!

 

[YosemiteSam]

heres a site that may help to identify Civil War armaments


http://www.civilwarartillery.com/

 

[omnicognic]

all the solid balls of that size (6.5") that I could find were MUCH heavier (43lbs)! Could it be hollow? 8)

 

[Lowbatts]

You know I measured it again and again this afternoon and it fits the description of turned iron shot put in 4kg., 100-110 mm range. Just looks so old I gotta wonder how long ago folks were doing this. You're right Omni, it's actually a couple inches shorter than I "measured" it earlier. Cool artillery site link. Thanks guys, I gotta call it one of those manual cannonballs, an old shot put round.

 

[chuckered]

Maybe the iron ring rusted away and its a weigh for downriggers for fishing