Item Number: A01308

Item Title: Very Nice Dyer Shell

Price: $725

Shipping: Not included

Provenance: US

Type: Dyer

Size: 7 Inch (Rifled 42 Pounder)

Sabot: Lead Cup

Fuse: Wood Adapter (missing)

Book:
Jack Bell Page 224

Location Recovered: Island No. 10, Tiptonville, TN

Description:This is one of the most popular shells among collectors. It has a nice big size, Tom Dickey brought bunches of them to shows for people to buy, they have a big good looking lead sabot that typically has great rifling and for their size they aren't too terribly heavy.

While they can be found at a few spots farther south down the Mississippi river they are mostly found at the bombardment at island No.10. The gunboats sat around a river bend and bombarded the south into submission early on in the effort for the Union to open the Mississippi river back up and cut its use by the Rebels off. The area where they are found is now a big farmers field.

This shell is in very good shape. The iron is very much above average being slick in spots and only lightly pitted in others. Having found 9 of them there myself I can tell you that likely means it was a deep find or very early. The lead sabot is nearly perfect. Most of them have either gotten plow marks in the lead or the lower edge of the sabot chipped off when fired. This one has great rifling showing the 9 lands-n-grooves as well as nice patina. It is not dented or misshapen. The shell was disarmed by drilling down through the fuse adapter in the fuse hole to flush it out. It appears to have the original wood adapter in the nose as a good number of them did.

Sorry the images aren't better. The fuse pic is especially odd. I'll replace it when I can get better light. I tried using some new fluorescent lights but the results weren't the best. If you need better images, let me know.

Shell is inert, cleaned and coated.