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We have a busy upcoming show schedule with the Gettysburg Show April 13-14 and then at Mansfield 3 weeks after that! 2 more shows on the calendar for June already and one in July!

Hope to see many of you at one of these shows.

A00890 - Super neat and very rare: 13-inch
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Item Number: A00890

Item Title: Super neat and very rare: 13-inch

Price: $1750

Shipping: Not included

Provenance:

Type: Mortar Ball

Size: 13 Inch (Approximately)

Sabot: Unknown

Fuse: Wood Adapter (Missing)

Book:

Location Recovered: Near Yorktown, VA

Description:This is one of the coolest shells we've sold. This shell was lost in 1781; that is 70 years before the shots on Fort Sumter. My understanding is that back in the 80's a cache of shells was found in the vicinity of the Pamunkey and York Rivers confluence. It is not clear to me if these shells were on their way to or from the battle of Yorktown when they were lost. It is assumed a wagon overturned or a barge sank sending a number of 13-inch shells and 8-inch shells to the bottom. (Note: The 8-inch and 13-inch size designations are the closest inch sizes as the actual French ball size is slightly smaller.) The 8-inch shells were the French lip balls like the one recently sold. The 13-inch balls are cast with the French foundry's name of "TRELON" or "IMBRECHY" with the majority being the latter. It should be noted the TRELON balls have a Fleur-De-Lis (FDL) also cast just above the word "TRELON" and there were far fewer of them in the cache. This ball has a good stamping of "TRELON" and the FDL as can be seen in the image. The other neat thing about these shells is that large lifting/positioning wrought iron handles cast into the shell on each side of the wood fuse hole. They are rather small diameter but big loops for a hand to easily grab. Many of the recovered balls are missing the handles as they broke or rusted off. The vast majority of the ones with handles has at least one missing or both bent over from the weight of the other balls. This particular ball has one handle bent down and the other nearly upright so it is an uncommon example. The shell surface is very hard and is in above average condition for these shells. The 1700's iron was just not what it was even during the Civil War and exhibits porosity and some scaling. I am not sure what the quality of French iron was at the time but guess it to be inferior to British iron and better than American iron. This one displays very well.

If you want a projectile from one of the premier battles of the war that set our country free to chart its own future, then here it is. Rev War artillery is hard to come by; especially good examples with great provenance like this.