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Thread: Is this a Cannonball??

  1. #1

    Is this a Cannonball??

    Hey guys, I found this object. What could it be? It weighs 10 lbs., and the dimensions are shown with a ruler. Shoot me your thoughts.
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  2. #2
    Administrator del's Avatar
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    what kind of area did you find it in Kasey??
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  3. #3
    Quote Originally Posted by del View Post
    what kind of area did you find it in Kasey??
    It was in a field that has been farmed for many years. The current landowner tells me that there were sharecropper houses in the vicinity of where I found it. According to a map in "HistoricAerials.com", there was a home in the exact location, in 1962, but not in 1971. I live in a town that has been noted for "the only town that Sherman didn't burn" on his march to the sea.

  4. #4
    Administrator del's Avatar
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    I was wondering if its a broken piece of fireplace andriron , they came in many shapes and styles both iron and brass. heres a couple of examples.
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  5. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by del View Post
    I was wondering if its a broken piece of fireplace andriron , they came in many shapes and styles both iron and brass. heres a couple of examples.
    that could sure be a possibility. I was also thinking something from a large church bell, the ding/dong maker? (I don't know what that thing is called, sorry).

  6. #6
    Elite Member coinnut's Avatar
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    I'm not thinking cannon ball because of the shape. There would be no advantage and a lot of disadvantages of trying to shoot that out of a cannon. Dan may be correct. It could also be 1/2 half of a dumbbell, a door weight or a horse tie down tether. There are probably a vast number of farm machines that may have used a counter balance on them. Unless someone really recognizes that piece, then we only have guesses to start with. But I commend you for hauling that out of the field

    I think the bell piece is called a clapper.
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    Elite Member giant056's Avatar
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    Neat find

  8. #8
    Administrator del's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by coinnut View Post
    I think the bell piece is called a clapper.
    "clapper" ...thats the thing that turns off your lights when you clap your hands silly
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  9. #9
    loving all the guesses. I never rreally thought it to be a cannonball, except when I was digging it, because the bigger round side was the upside. Now I call it a cannonball, but realize that is most likely incorrect. I don't know what cuckoo clock weights look like, maybe I'll investigate them too.

  10. #10
    Elite Member coinnut's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by del View Post
    "clapper" ...thats the thing that turns off your lights when you clap your hands silly
    Well then, this must turn off the lights somehow.


    Name:  bell clapper.jpg
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  11. #11
    Administrator del's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by coinnut View Post
    Well then, this must turn off the lights somehow.


    Name:  bell clapper.jpg
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    that looks mean .....yeah you hit someone with that hard enough , it will definitely turn out their lights
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  12. #12
    based on your above pictures, my lil thingy sure resembles the "clapper" part of that contraption. mine is more rounded at the widest circumference and less of an angle from the 'body' of the clapper down to the neck. hmm. may just be a clapper. (It will always be my 'cannonball')!

  13. #13
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    Interesting find and very unusual. Congrats

  14. #14
    Elite Member coinnut's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by KCFindIt View Post
    based on your above pictures, my lil thingy sure resembles the "clapper" part of that contraption. mine is more rounded at the widest circumference and less of an angle from the 'body' of the clapper down to the neck. hmm. may just be a clapper. (It will always be my 'cannonball')!
    It could well be. It would have to be broken where it attached to the inside of the bell. It would come from a pretty big bell.
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  15. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by coinnut View Post
    It could well be. It would have to be broken where it attached to the inside of the bell. It would come from a pretty big bell.
    Funny story about my "cannonball" find. I showed it to a neighbor and told him I found a cannonball. He took it and immediately started talking. He said "this isn't a cannonball. you should take this to the mayor of our city. you see, years ago, someone broke into the church and stole the clapper from the bell. rumor has it that they hid it out on some farm in a field, but no one knew where, and then they passed away. it looks like you found the stolen clapper." he was so straight-faced and serious, I sat there jaw-dropped, thinking I was going to be arrested for possessing a stolen clapper!

  16. #16
    Quote Originally Posted by coinnut View Post
    It could well be. It would have to be broken where it attached to the inside of the bell. It would come from a pretty big bell.
    I'm going to search hard around the location of where I found this, and see if I can come up with the long shaft that would attach to my found piece. Come to think of it, I may have found a shaft as shown above in a different location, and not as big. I'll search thru my collection.

  17. #17
    Elite Member coinnut's Avatar
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    If you can locate that shaft, then that would be amazing. I hope he's not pulling your leg
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  18. #18
    Full Member Tom's Avatar
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    clapper, all this talk about a clapper reminds me of a little song that go's "I'd rather have the measles then the Clap, Clap, Clap."
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  19. #19
    Elite Member tanacat's Avatar
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    Neat find! Was it very deep, get some exercise? I've dug up pots and oddities that thought might be cannon, helmet or safe box and it sure can be challenging! If there's roots and rocks involved... I bet being in a field made it easier!

    Good luck finding more pieces to the puzzle out there
    Speaking of, I'm headed out to my fave field right now for first time in a couple months
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  20. #20
    Quote Originally Posted by tanacat View Post
    Neat find! Was it very deep, get some exercise? I've dug up pots and oddities that thought might be cannon, helmet or safe box and it sure can be challenging! If there's roots and rocks involved... I bet being in a field made it easier!

    Good luck finding more pieces to the puzzle out there


    Speaking of, I'm headed out to my fave field right now for first time in a couple months
    Tanacat, it wasn't very deep. The field is a hay field that I cut and bale hay on, so I wasn't going to dig big holes, so I only dug targets that were within a few inches of the ground surface. The old maps show a house site there, so scanning over the ground, the detector goes wild. I really can only choose so many targets, and I choose shallow ones. Luckily, this "ball object" was more on the side of the field, so no hay growth was damaged. But I may dig a little deeper in search of the shaft.
    And so you are doing the happy dance for sure. Hope you find the motherlode!!
    Last edited by KCFindIt; 02-20-2014 at 08:19 PM. Reason: my response became part of tana's post

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