This is a soldered tin box with separate lid that, when full would have contained 20 tubes of pellet primers for the Sharps carbine or rifle.  The tubes are made of thin sheet brass and each contains 25 copper priming discs, a wood dowel, and each also has a wood “tab” sticking out of the side. The “tab” was used to push the primers out of the tube and into the Lawrence priming system in the Sharps lockplate.  Not as reliable as ordinary percussion caps, the pellet primers were still used quite often during the Civil War. Accounts from various units attest to their use when needed.  One layer, five tubes, remain with the tin and are in excellent condition, stacked neatly in the tin box. The box is likewise in excellent shape. There is no label on the lid and does not look like it ever had one. Faint traces of an old red rubber band that was once around the container. This is an extremely rare tin container with Sharps pellet primers for any Sharps rifle or carbine display.  [jet]

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