Offered here is a very nice excavated Union artillery shell that was fired and, partially, detonated.  This is an iron, 3” Hotchkiss artillery shell that was intended to be fired from a 10-pounder Parrott rifle or 3” Ordnance rifle.

This shell is made up of three separate sections. The nose section would have been filled with lead case-shot balls and the explosive charge. When this was fired, the fuse and top blew straight out as designed to direct the lead balls. Because of this hole created in the nose, a view of the interior construction shows a square nail sticking up from the bottom. This was critical in the casting process.

However, the remainder of the shell did not fragment for some reason. The middle section, a lead sabot, is intact and shows rifling marks very well. The third section is the iron base cup. On the bottom of this cup is the very clearly visible Hotchkiss patent information as cast into the piece. This is the type with three flame grooves running up the sides.

This item was excavated so the exterior iron surface is brown and rusty, but is not heavily pitted.

Joel A. Danner created the first Gettysburg museum of battlefield relics named Danner's Museum. The Danner's Museum was in operation from 1865-1890. The museum was located on Baltimore Street in Gettysburg not far from what is now Lincoln Square. This museum is somewhat mysterious as information about it is scarce. It is known that sometime after 1890 the collection was sold and all or most of the collection ended up in Massachusetts. Items from Danner's Museum are highly sought after by collectors and usually carry a significant price tag. It is also known that the Rosensteel family did attempt to locate and purchase the collection in Massachusetts. However the family was only able to locate and obtain part of the collection. At some point the collection must have been broken up and pieces of the collection filtered out to the public through auctions, etc. Many of the items that had been in Danner's Museum have a distinctive number painted on the relic or on the base that the relic sits on. This is especially the case with artillery shells from the collection that have the trademark number painted on the base, a way for Danner to catalog his collection.

This shell is an excellent display piece or educational tool, as well as an excellent addition to any excavated Civil War artillery or general relic collection. [jet][ph:L]

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