SHIPWRECK FIND! JAR OF MUSKET BALLS, TORPEDO BOTTLES, FLINT? HELP PLEASE!

[miamibeachcg]

Hello all!
I won a storage auction that was full of items that appear to gave been brought up from a shipwreck!
The jar (which still has 80% of it's cap) is holding what appears to be musket balls - it is VERY heavy.
But what I can't be sure of is the clump of what looks like more musket balls stuck together, but you can see where one is broken - and it's made of wood?! There is also another jar that had large & small balls in it that were very light weight + small same shaped rocks that I'm thinking may be flint.
Were the light weight balls & the balls in the clump that appear to be made of wood kindling for starting fires?
I would appreciate any help.
There were also some torpedo bottles & a brandy type bottle that had a old french biz card in it; on the back was written "ENGLISH 1780 WINE" + what looks like the trigger guard & another piece of a musket that is fused to a type of glass.
I do these auctions to help support Joy's House (www.joyshouse.info); a sober house for girls I opened in my daughter's memory & any help with these information wise will help me in selling them & supporting the house.
Thank you in advance for any help.
miamibeachcg
PS - I can't see the photos I attached (after making them web size) - did I do them correctly?
Again, much thanks for help with these - they are very cool!

 

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[JohnChase1989]

That's awesome! Great find!

 

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[arrowhead82]

nice finds. i love the gun flints!

 

[cw0909]

cw0909 - are these the lenses you were asking about?
Thanks for any help; I have a 99.8% positive feedback on eBay & don't want to hurt it selling fake stuff.
What would I call this in a listing? " Shipwreck Relics", "Return from the deep sea; a collection of recovered shipwreck items"?
Thanks again forum!
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yes it should have another set where the holes are on the plate,to bad you dont have docs for what ship the items was from
maybe do some research on found sunken,scraped ships from 1880-1920,though it could have just been found goods and
the divers never reported it found

 

[Torben Bjarke Ballin]

Hi Miami,

I am an archaeologist, and one of my big interests is gunflints. I have just written a paper on the gunflints from two Scandinavian shipwrecks found off Shetland. Interestingly, all the gunflints were French. Although your gunflints are heavily affected by deposition in water, there is no doubt that they are all French (rounded heel/rear), so maybe your finds are all from a sunken French vessel? You don't happen to know which ship these artefacts are from?

The French started making gunflints on blades much before we did in Britain, probably early 1700s or even before. In Britain, blade-based gunflints were made from c. 1800. It is only possible to give a very rough date for your pieces of c. early 1700s to mid 1800s.

Great to have seen your artefacts. Thanks.

All the best

Torben

 

[Kieth-Tx]

Did not see if this was pointed out but alot of cannister shot was steel versus the musket balls which are lead...hence the heavier wieght. Those are some amazing finds!!! Another name for that type of bottle is "ballast bottle"...have dug a few that look like the brown one you have. Mine are dated in the 1850's-1870's. WTG on a great auction!!!