19delta-uav Posted October 16, 2013 #1 Posted October 16, 2013 Hello, A friend of mine picked this up at a recent estate sale, and needs help identifying it. I believe it to be a civil war munition, one of the shells with the lead boot on the bottom. He said the guy to whom they belonged mentioned finding some of these in a cache near gettysburg, and thats where they came from. Its in phenominal shape and has great patina. Any help in identifying this beast would be greatly appreciated. It is 7.5 inches long, 3 inches in diameter, and weighs 8.8 pounds. Thanks!
Bob Hudson Posted October 16, 2013 #4 Posted October 16, 2013 Absterdam Type II shell -This website says:http://www.relicman.com/artillery/zArchiveArt.Absterdam.00.htm"Absterdam shells were believed to have been produced and ready for service by the end of the Civil War but apparently did not reach the field in time to be used, most ended up in the surplus stocks sold by Bannerman. They represented a significant technological development in artillery of the Civil War and were definitely produced as part of the war effort, and are therefore a legitimate item to include in a Civil War collection. However to my knowledge, none have been recovered from battlefields. At one point many of the Gettysburg monuments supposedly utilized shells as part of the monument display or there may have simply been stacks placed around the battlefield. It is not clear how many there actually were but at some point the park service removed all of them and sold them, decided not to have authentic shells out on the battlefield, they were too much of an invitation for vandalism and theft. To my knowledge most if not all have been removed, but a good many of the Absterdam Type II shells that are on the market without fuses and unfired came either from the Gettysburg monuments or Bannerman surplus stocks, but none were used at Gettysburg as is often claimed or any other actual battlefield that I am aware."
19delta-uav Posted October 16, 2013 Author #6 Posted October 16, 2013 Thank you very much Bob, I appreciate the information. This one is in amazing shape, I just wish it had the stamp on the bottom. Oh well.
19delta-uav Posted October 16, 2013 Author #7 Posted October 16, 2013 Good to know, I think his ultimate intent is to sell it as his collection mostly resides in firearms, so you may see it listed here on the forum. Its really in phenominal shape thouh.
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