Unusual "TOWER" Marked Round Balls. Anyone Seen These Before?

[FoxHound0985]

Greetings everyone,

It's been a LONG time since I've posted anything on here. I just don't get out to hunt much anymore. Anyway, one of my MD'ing buddies came across these at an auction and bought them because he thought they were unusual. They are either .72 or .75 caliber, and still have the sprues attached. They mostly seem to be in pairs of two. The interesting thing is that the sprues are marked "TOWER", which no doubt means they were made at the Tower of London. Have any of you guys ever seen anything like this before? It seems like a lot of work to mark each pair of round balls. Is it possible that these were on their way to an armory somewhere to be finished and turned into cartridges? There are also a lot of Civil War bullets in the mix. Could they have been on their way to the US? I am thinking of buying some from him, but I would like to know a little more info about them first. Thanks and HH!

PF

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

A History of Mining on the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska - Grab it through Amazon!

[NHBandit]

A company called IMA bought the entire contents of a castle in Nepal a few years back that was piled floor to ceiling with guns dating back to the 1700s, musket balls, flints, parts, etc. You name it, they had it. They even had a TV show for awhile that some of you might remember. Father & son & dad had a British accent. I suspect those might have come from that stash. International Military Antiques | Military Collectibles, Militaria, Antique Guns, 400 years of Military History for Sale ima-usa.com Since there are Civil War bullets in the mix as well they could have also been from Bannermans back in the day. The US buckle in your avatar ? We all hope to find one that's still in one piece when we go scratching around in the dirt. Bannermans had crates of brand new originals stacked up in the warehouse..

 

[FoxHound0985]

Thanks for the reply NHBandit! The plate in my pic was dug in Louisville, KY in April of 2010. It's my only complete one to date and I've been digging for 16 years, lol. I have bought a few things from IMA in the past, and they always have some pretty neat stuff. I seem to remember that there were hundreds of thousands of musket flints also discovered in the same manner. Maybe from the same cache? It's possible that these balls came from there too. Apparently the auction company did not have any provenance with them. He said they were just advertised as "Rev-War Musket Balls", or something like that. These are the auction companies pics btw. It's all he had to send me.

 

[NHBandit]

Thanks for the reply NHBandit! The plate in my pic was dug in Louisville, KY in April of 2010. It's my only complete one to date and I've been digging for 16 years, lol. I have bought a few things from IMA in the past, and they always have some pretty neat stuff. I seem to remember that there were hundreds of thousands of musket flints also discovered in the same manner. Maybe from the same cache? It's possible that these balls came from there too. Apparently the auction company did not have any provenance with them. He said they were just advertised as "Rev-War Musket Balls", or something like that. These are the auction companies pics btw. It's all he had to send me.

I love auctions. Here's my US buckle complete with original belt bought at an estate auction in Southern Alabama a few years back. Paid $125. Been authenticated by several experts. I don't think I got hurt too bad. Also some of my other junk. Mostly bought, not found, since I was living in New Hampshire up until 2 years ago. The slave bill of sale in the center of the coffee table also came from Alabama and is dated 1848. Certified genuine by Rafael Eledge, the guy who does most of the CW apraisals for Antiques Roadshow.

 

[taz42o]

Those were made in gang moulds, So the were in groups of more than two.
Meaning they were probably making one mark for ten or more.

 

[hightonehunter]

Where in the world did you dig a buckle in Louisville if I might ask. Do you still live around Louisville, I'm new to metal detecting and sure would love someone with your experience to show me the ropes. Thanks ......David

 

[Bramblefind]

Here's a Worthpoint listing for some others --

Revolutionary War Brit.Musket Balls on Sprue-Savannah,

 

[nova treasure]

Where in the world did you dig a buckle in Louisville if I might ask. Do you still live around Louisville, I'm new to metal detecting and sure would love someone with your experience to show me the ropes. Thanks ......David

Louisville (Jefferson county) has given up Alot of CW and old homesite relics, but it makes a great challenge nowadays.

 

[FoxHound0985]

NHBandit, that is a nice display you have! I love going to auctions because you never know what you might find! I once found a non-dug James shell at an auction and bought it for $25! So far it's my best auction find.

Hightonehunter, I dug it at a local park before they decided to pass an ordinance against digging. If you send me a PM, I will give you some more details. You would be more than welcome to come with us when we go digging. I'm not sure when that would be though, lol. My buddy and I have been too busy working lately to get out and do anything.

Bramblefind, thanks for that link. He mentioned that the auction was in Florida, so these could have been found in Georiga. I guess it's a strong possibility that these could be Rev War then.

HH!