Artilary shell ???

[hunts with son]

Friend of mine located this near an old foundation, north east part if PA. Any info would be greatly appreciated.

 

[hunts with son]

I forgot to add. It weighs about 25 pounds

 

[pepperj]

This link should help you out, click onto heavy projectile/rifled projectile.

The Civil War Artillery Projectile and Cannon Home Page

 

[Beeps in my sleep]

looks like a parrott shell to me

 

[parsonwalker]

looks like a parrott shell to me

I think Beeps nailed it . . .

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Beeps is right, it is a yankee-made Parrott artillery shell (named for the man who designed it, Robert P. Parrott). The specific version your friend found was manufactured from 1863 into the 1870s, exclusively at Mr. Parrott's West Point Foundry at Cold Springs, NY. The brass ring sabot on its base is the type made for the US Army. (The Navy version had a flat band sbaot, also made of brass.) This shell's sabot seems to show no rifling-marks from the cannon's barrel, so it appears to be an unfired one. Its "nose" originally had a screw-in fuzeplug, made of zinc, which is missing.

If you (or your friend) will provide a precise measurement of the shell's diameter, made by laying the tape-measure across the center of the shell's flat bottom, I'll be able to tell y'all what caliber the shell is. I'll need that information to be able to answer the inevitable question, "What's it worth?"

 

[hunts with son]

Thank you all for the replies! Cannonball, that is great info and I will be sending a copy of your post to my friend. The value is something that we would like to know of course, but not for the purpose of selling. This parrot round will be proudly displayed for all to see at hunting camp.

 

[hunts with son]

Here is the other measurements

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Thanks for getting me a diameter-measurement photo. It shows that your friend found a 3.67"-caliber Parrott shell, which most collectors call a "20-pounder" Parrott shell, because it was made for use in a "20-pounder" Parrott Rifled Cannon. The specific version your friend found, which has a short brass ring "sabot" encircling its flat iron base, saw its first combat use in early 1863. It was declared obsolete in the 1870s, due to the US Army's adoption of Breechloading cannons, which are superior to the civil war era Muzzleloading canoons.

I have to mention that contrary to your guess (25 pounds), that shell's empty-&-fuzeless weight is 17 pounds.

Factors which affect that shell's dollar-value:
1- It has a BRASS ring sabot, which is scarcer than the iron ring sabot version, so that's a "plus" for this shell's value.
2- Its brass ring sabot is in unfired condition, whereas most specimens which still exist are fired ones, so that's another "plus" for this shell's value.
3- Its iron body is is uncleaned condition, which can cause the iron to continue to corrode. That is a "minus" for its value.
4- Its fuzeplug is missing, which makes this shell an incomplete one. That is a "minus" for its value.

In summary, adding up those four factors produces a dollar-value of about $175-$200.

In the above comments, I mentioned that uncleaned iron will continue to corrode. So, let me recommend that your friend either learn how to do the Electrolysis rust-removal process, or pay somebody else to do it on that shell. I don't know anybody in Pennsylvania who does Electrolysis cleaning. I suggest you go to www.bulletandshell.com and enter the Civil War Projectiles forum, go to the Artillery category, and post a request for the name of somebody in Pennsylania who does Electrolysis cleaning of relics. Or, perhaps one of our fellow TreasureNet members will know somebody in Pennsylvania who does it.

I do Electrolysis cleaning on iron relics, but I'm in the Richmond VA area, which means you'd have to mail the shell, or carry it to me. So I suggested first trying to find somebody more "local" to your friend.

By the way... I hope your friend hunted that old house-foundation diligently, because where you find one artillery shell there are usually more at the same location.