This comes from an old collection containing many items purchased off Bannerman’s Island or from their Blue Point, LI, operation, opened in 1959 when the NY City store closed. This is an original Civil War US Navy painted tinned-iron box with hinged lid to hold cannon primers, and is small enough to fit in the leather USN primer boxes, two of which we offer separately. We show a well-known CW photo of a U.S. Navy gun crew photo with the men posed around their naval gun, with the sailor at center wearing one of those primer boxes on his belt and posed as if he had just placed the primer in the cannon’s vent, with the taught lanyard running across the photo at center.

This is rectangular, measures 3-1/8 x 2-5/8 x 1-3/4 inches, has its hinges intact, and still bears much of its original orange paint. The small, hinged tab and catch are missing, which is common since they were secured only by thin solder. This one clearly came to Bannerman from surplus USN stores, bearing a paper label inside reading “ORDNANCE DEPT. N.Y.W.” (i.e. Navy Yard Washington) with spaces for dates of manufacture, re-inspection, issue, and name (initials) of the inspector. The manufacture date is blank, but the other entries show it was reinspected and re-issued in the 1880s, when the navy was just beginning the transition to breach-loading guns, but heavy caliber muzzle loading cannon were still around and the Navy was clearly beginning to take stock of its ordnance stores.

This is a scarce piece that would add to a Civil War USN or artillery display.   [sr] [ph:L]

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