[M ELEY]

Here's a few from my collection. The large one is a 6 -pounder reportedly from the Charleston, SC area circa 1770's. The 6 pounders were used by both the Continentals and the Red Coats.

Also in the picture is my chainshot piece, which I had suggested these types posted by Cel7 might still be some sort of unusual shot. I have seen balls with the chain all the way through the ball and bolted to the other end. Likewise, there were early spike shot from the Elizabethan period with a round ball and spikes projecting through it front and back that combustable material could be wrapped around and set alight. This is just guesswork without provenance for any of the auction items presented by Cel7.

And, of course, I have two round stone balls presented to me as 'stone cannon balls' in this pic. Cannonballs made of stone did exist from around 1400 up to the English Civil War (mid-17th). They came in a variety of sizes much like cannon and musket shot of the same period. Stone balls were particularly effective on ships, as they could easily punch a hole through a rival vessel's hull, immediately shattering into a lagrage of deadly projectiles. Cheaper to use than iron at the time (and not requiring a forge to make!), they were time-consuming to create and became obsolete as ships' hulls became thicker into the late 17th c. Many stone balls are listed as 'cannonballs', but turn out to be decorative garden balls or Native American gaming balls, etc. (To dispel one rumor, there were never perfectly round 'mill balls' used to imitate these. Iron mill balls, on the other hand, do mimic real cannon balls). So...I'm not sure if I have the real deal or not. My two are hand-carved and very old. They do very much resemble specimens found off of County Antrim, Ireland, where the Spanish Armada broke up.