To begin, this is my first post, so please forgive if it's overly long...
I picked this up at a local estate sale, where an old collector had passed away and his family was selling his vast collection of just about everything under the sun...! Among the items I wasn't lucky enough to purchase were several Civil War era weapons, including a few swords and various cannon balls. I scored this item only because it had rolled of the table and was hidden among a collection of old tins and cigar boxes. Lucky me to find a mystery!
Now then: What the heck it is?!? What we have here is an odd object constructed out of three elements, all rusty cast-iron or iron-alloy: Two interlocking cups--one with a spike in the center interior, the other with a small fuse-hole in its center exterior; and one heavy solid ball/shot with a small hole to accommodate the aforementioned spike. Assembly: The ball fits, hole down, into the spiked cup, and rests upon the spike so that it will gently spin upon the point of the spike; the second cup fits over the ball with its hole directly opposite the interior spike; both cups have an interlocking lip that fits shut. The outside of the cups are inscribed with a kind of crosshatch pattern, like a primitive non-slip texture. There is also a small amount of old metal slag around the seam where the two cups meet, as if to weld the cups shut, and there is also some slag around the fuse-hole.
Additional clue: It seems to me that the bits of slag around the seam of the two cups had once sealed them shut--at least semi-permanently, possibly in preparation for implementation? For firing from a cannon? Who the heck knows?!? Point is on this part of the puzzle: it was once, in effect, welded shut, and it's since been re-opened. In any case, the mystery remains!
Now, I have asked on various Civil War era-related threads and online communities, and not one person could give me a definitive answer as to exactly what this is! Some said it might be an old road flare/pot, but it's far too small and heavy for that, and doesn't at all look like the pictures available online. Also: those old road flares were made with a flat bottom to keep them from rolling away; this odd object is completely round. Others have speculated that it must certainly be a weapon of some kind, most likely a projectile explosive, and I tend to agree...
Conclusion: To the best of my opinion and research, this is a Civil War era armament or grenade of some kind. My guess is that gunpowder or some kind of fuel was inserted inside between the cup-walls and the shot (by being poured into the fuse-hole), and a fuse inserted into the accompanying hole, lit and lobbed in the general direction of the enemy--or was meant to, but obviously this was never deployed.
So, there you have it! I heartily welcome your expertise and opinions concerning this very odd object.
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UPDATES:
#1: I've just discovered some images that suggests that this odd object just might be "Haynes Excelsior" hand grenade! Here's the relevant quote from the book "The Battlefields of the Civil War" by William C. Davis (ISBN: 0-8061-2882-8):
The "Haynes Excelsior patent (1862) handgrenade. The weapon came in two halves. An outer casing surrounded an inner sphere containing the charge. It was detonated by percussion caps hitting the outer casing."
Further research suggests that the Haynes Excelsior hand grenade proved too dangerous to arm for use in battle, so perhaps this is an early prototype?
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#2: I have also unearthed this relevant quote from the 2008 academic thesis "Muse of Fire" By Anthony James Saunders:
"The Hanes Excelsior grenade had fourteen hollow spikes, each surmounted by a percussion cap, radiating from a sphere which contained the explosive. This assembly was contained in a two-part casing which was intended to act as a striking surface for the caps. The idea was that, irrespective of how the device landed, one of the cap-surmounted spikes would strike the casing; the flash from the exploding cap would travel down the spike into the gunpowder and cause the device to explode."
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There you have it: my mysterious and odd object! Please let me know what you think it might be! Thanks!
KJK
P.S.--I have more photos available; please contact me at [email protected] , and I will be happy to send them to
you!
