is it a Bomb???

[coolxam]

I found this today.. its looks like a WW2 bomb but upon careful checking there is are holes on the head and there are small welded
round objects on side. the hole on the top most part is through and through until to the bottom.. it has a hollow body but the head
too heavy.. its almost 60kgs..

 

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[TheCannonballGuy]

Coolxam wrote:
> Is it a bomb?
> I found this today.
> Its looks like a WW2 bomb but upon careful checking there is are holes on the head and
> there are small welded round objects on side.

It is not a bomb. It is an artillery shell, manufactured in Europe, from the late-1860s-to-1890s. What you called "small welded round objects on side" are actually lead/antimony studs, which fit into the cannon's rifling-grooves. This type of "studded" artillery projectile was produced by Britain, France, and Spain ...but the British version had copperbrass studs, so your shell is either French or Spanish.

What country did you find it in?

 

[coolxam]

Philippines

 

[chatmangreer]

Now that's a different find. Cool! I would have never guessed artillary shell. Maybe an "old" ashtray but not a shell. That is neat.....

 

[boris]

Don't hit it with a hammer, call the experts to do that.

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Coolxam, thank you for answering my question about where you found it. Your answer, the Phillipines Islands, provides the rest of the details about its identity. Your shell is indeed Spanish, and was for the Spanish heavy-artillery Seacoast Defense guns during the Spanish-American War (1898-99). The Phillipines were claimed as a colony of Spain in the 1520s, and remained continuously under Spain's control until the end of the Spanish-American War (1899), when the islands were ceded to the US Government as part of the treaty ending the war.

By the way... you don't need to "call the experts," because your shell's fuze is absent, and thus its bursting-charge cavity is open and empty. It is entirely harmless, unless you get careless with your fingers and toes when you move it.

Here's a photo showing the British version of a "studded" shell, which has copperbrass-studs, from that general time-period (1870s-to-1890s). Note that like your shell, it has two rows of six studs. The British invented the Studded shell, and the French and Spanish imitated it, but they used lead-antimony studs instead of the British copperbrass studs.

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

Nice find and nice ID. What would the value be of such a find?

 

[Minrelica]

That would make a nice, unique lamp base for the corner of a room.

Sweet find and great ID work.

 

[coolxam]

hehehe.. nice idea..

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

CBG so this was never armed or fired? Does it get packed full of gunpowder? http://www.fototime.com/98A3F0971840E3F/orig.jpg

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

BigCypressHunter wrote:
> What would the value be of such a find?

You already know the following information, but I'll give it for other readers who may not already know it.

The dollar-value of a relic is determined by three factors:
1- Rarity
2- Condition/Completeness
3- Collector Demand/Interest-Level
Many people think Rarity is the most important factor. But in actuality, Number 3 is the most important. For example, let's say you've found a super-rare 1654 Bulgarian coin, and it is in excellent condition. But, there are extremely few collectors of Bulgarian coins.

Now, let's apply those three factors to Coolxam's find.
1- It is rare.
2- Its condition is very good, but it is incomplete (its fuze is absent).
3- It is a Heavy-Caliber artillery shell, from the Spanish-American War. There are very few collectors of Heavy Artillery projectiles, due to their ponderous weight (you've got to reinforce your house's floor to display your collection), and the high cost of shipping objects which weigh more than 70 pounds. Also, there are very few collectors of Spanish-American War relics, in comparison to the high level of interest in Civil War and World War 2 relics.

Coolxam said he found his Heavy-Caliber artillery shell in the Phillipines. Assuming it is still in that country, shipping it to an American or Spanish artillery shell collector would be very significantly expensive -- probably more than the value of the shell itself. So, his best bet would be to try to find a local (Phillipines) artillery collector. It's probably worth a couple of hundred American dollars. Its value would be higher if its fuze was present, but being absent, the shell is "incomplete" -- and being incomplete always hurts a relic's dollar-value.

> CBG so this was never armed or fired?
> Does it get packed full of gunpowder?
> http://www.fototime.com/98A3F0971840E3F/orig.jpg

I assume you are asking about the shell in the photo at the link you posted. It is a 3.5"-caliber French "Lead-Studded" shell, from the latter-1800s. A large quantity of them were captured by the US Army in Cuba during the Spanish-American War, and were afterwards sold to the American public as souveneirs by war-surplus dealer Francis Bannerman & Sons in that company's mail-order catalog. (Please note, they are often incorrectly advertized as being a civil war era Confederate shell!)

The answers to your two questions about the shell at the link (not Coolxam's shell) are:
The lead/antimony studs on its sides do not show compression-marks from a cannon's rifling-grooves, so this one was never fired. Yes, if it had been "armed" it would have been filled with an explosive powder-charge, and a fuze would have been screwed into the fuzehole in the shell's front.

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

Sorry I was asking about Coolxams shell. My bad. I guess it was never fired either.