Item Number: A00963

Item Title: Superfine 12 Pounder Iron Side Loader With Bormann Replacement Fuse

Price: $780

Shipping: Not included

Provenance: CS

Type: Cannon Ball

Size: 12 Pounder (4.62 Caliber)

Sabot: Wood Cup (Missing)

Fuse: CS Copper Bormann Replacement Adapter

Book:
Melton and Pawl (Paperback Editon) Page 34 A-17

Location Recovered: Petersburg, VA

Description:This shell is so Confederate that when you pick it up you can't help but whistle Dixie. First of all it is an iron side loader. Only the Confederates made side loaders. Secondly the fuse is a CS copper adapter made to screw into the threads of a Bormann fused shell and is only done by the South. By 1863 the South had abandoned their inadequate Bormann fuse and was using this type adapter in the remaining Bormann fused cast shells they had. They were an excessive amount of copper for a fuse and thus were only used for the few shells that needed them and are not frequently found. For more info on the fuse, see pages 43 & 44 in "Artillery Fuses of the Civil War" by Charles (Chuck) Jones.

This example is in excellent shape. The iron is solid and smooth with only the lightest amount of ground action so you know it was dug. The fuse jumps out at you as it has the bright copper color against the darker iron. It is in great shape and you can clearly see the lathe marks on the adapter's face. In the pictures below I have placed a normal CS copper adapter upside down on it so you can see the very large comparable size. The side loader plug is very visible with nice clean spanner holes. A very distinct mold seam goes around the shell. The shell was disarmed through the fuse and so there is no drill hole in the iron body. A super nice and rare display piece.

Shell is inert, cleaned and coated.