Thank you all for the excellent advice given today regarding the 
possible cannon ball/bomb/artillery shell in our collection.  My 
original email was posted for a colleague (who can't seem to sign up for 
HistArch) and I will certainly present all your remarks and suggestions 
to her. It may turn out that it isn't a ball/shell/bomb after all, 
rather some type or rolling or smoothing ball.  If you'd like to see a 
picture of the artifact click here, 
http://www.kansasmemory.org/item/440458. I am told its small size argues 
against it being so, but the concavity shown argues for it being some 
kind of ordinance.
Chris Garst

On 3/15/2017 12:30 PM, Merry Outlaw wrote:
> http://www.pantagraph.com/news/civil-war-cannonball-explodes-kills-relic-collector/article_86607e91-89df-5e6f-9229-02d450ab0195.html
> Civil War cannonball explodes, kills relic collector
>
>     - Steve Szkotak Associated Press
>     - May 2, 2008
>
> CHESTER, Va. - Like many boys in the South, Sam White got hooked on the
> Civil War early, digging up rusting bullets and military buttons in the
> battle-scarred earth of his hometown.
>
> As an adult, he crisscrossed the Virginia countryside in search of wartime
> relics - weapons, battle flags, even artillery shells buried in the red
> clay. He sometimes put on diving gear to feel for treasures hidden in the
> black muck of river bottoms.
>
> But in February, White's hobby cost him his life: A cannonball he was
> restoring exploded, killing him in his driveway.
>
> More than 140 years after Lee surrendered to Grant, the cannonball was
> still powerful enough to send a chunk of shrapnel through the front porch
> of a house a quarter-mile from White's home in this leafy Richmond suburb.
>
> White's death shook the close-knit fraternity of relic collectors and
> raised concerns about the dangers of other Civil War munitions that lay
> buried beneath old battlefields. Explosives experts said the fatal blast
> defied extraordinary odds.
>
> "You can't drop these things on the ground and make them go off," said
> retired Col. John F. Biemeck, formerly of the Army Ordnance Corps.
>
> White, 53, was one of thousands of hobbyists who comb former battlegrounds
> for artifacts using metal detectors, pickaxes, shovels and trowels.
>
> "There just aren't many areas in the South in which battlefields aren't
> located. They're literally under your feet," said Harry Ridgeway, a former
> relic hunter who has amassed a vast collection. "It's just a huge thrill to
> pull even a mundane relic out of the ground."
>
> After growing up in Petersburg, White went to college, served on his local
> police force, then worked for 25 years as a deliveryman for UPS. He retired
> in 1998 and devoted most of his time to relic hunting.
>
> He was an avid reader, a Civil War raconteur and an amateur historian who
> watched History Channel programs over and over, to the mild annoyance of
> his wife.
>
> "I used to laugh at him and say, 'Why do you watch this? You know how it
> turned out. It's not going to be any different,"' Brenda White said.
>
> She didn't share her husband's devotion, but she was understanding of his
> interest.
>
> "True relic hunters who have this passion, they don't live that way
> vicariously, like if you were a sports fanatic," she said. "Finding a
> treasure is their touchdown, even if it's two, three bullets."
>
> Union and Confederate troops lobbed an estimated 1.5 million artillery
> shells and cannonballs at each other from 1861 to 1865. As many as one in
> five were duds.
>
> Some of the weapons remain buried in the ground or river bottoms. In late
> March, a 44-pound, 8-inch mortar shell was uncovered at Petersburg National
> Battlefield, the site of an epic 292-day battle. The shell was taken to the
> city landfill and detonated.
>
> Black powder provided the destructive force for cannonballs and artillery
> shells. The combination of sulfur, potassium nitrate and finely ground
> charcoal requires a high temperature - 572 degrees Fahrenheit - and
> friction to ignite.
>
> White estimated he had worked on about 1,600 shells for collectors and
> museums. On the day he died, he had 18 cannonballs lined up in his driveway
> to restore.
>
> White's efforts seldom raised safety concerns. His wife and son Travis
> sometimes stood in the driveway as he worked.
>
> "Sam knew his stuff, no doubt about it," said Jimmy Blankenship,
> historian-curator at the Petersburg battleground. "He did know Civil War
> ordnance."
>
> An investigation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms will not be
> complete until the end of May, but police who responded to the blast and
> examined shrapnel concluded that it came from a Civil War explosive.
>
> On Wed, Mar 15, 2017 at 10:56 AM, Chris Garst <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>> Good Morning all:
>> In our collections we have a 6#  cannon ball that still has its fuse.  We
>> suspect it is still filled with gunpowder also. It was recovered during a
>> metal detector survey last fall and may date to the Civil War era.  We have
>> been getting mixed messages regarding the safety of having such an item in
>> our collection.  Does anyone know about the safety and stability of such an
>> item?
>> Thank you
>> Chris Garst
>> Kansas Historical Society
>>
>
>