Is this a cannon ball?

[kimbershot]

This morning I hunted a civil war era church that was spared by Sherman's troops as they moved through SC. I was told the site had been heavily hunted by many over the years. I decided to dig just about anything that beeped below a nickel on my Vaquero and after about 2 hours of slim pickings--I got a good solid hit. The hit wouldn't disc out and the object sounded pretty large--so I proceeded with the dig. About 8 inches down, I finally saw my "treasure". As I dug, the spherical shape became more pronounced. The hole got bigger and bigger and finally, my treasure was unearthed. I thought it might be a kid's swing set anchor at first--but it was solid metal and to heavy to be laden with cast cement. Well, I brought it home, washed as much dirt off as I could. My ball weighs about 40 lb and I estimate that it's six inches across and 11 inches high.

Could my find be:

1. a specialized artillary projectile.
2. a church bell gong
3. a ball and chain used to control slaves?
4. a paper weight

Any help in identifying this would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Camp Pollard]

I choose bell gonger. Lol

 

[Canewrap]

I second that it's a bell clapper, Did you know that a few church bells were melted down during the Civil War for the brass they contained?

 

[garys relics]

It could be a horse anchor. Wagons and carriages sometime carried weights that they would throw on the ground connected by a rope and the horses would not run off. They were used when there was no hitching post available, just like a boat with an anchor today. Neat find, will clean up nice.

 

[kimbershot]

I followed up with a collector of antique restraints and received the following response as to what my find was:

hi ! what you have is a --- scale weight -- but prisons use to add a chain with a leg shackle on the end of the chain etc etc and use them........ also as there were still plantations in the late 1800's on in to the 1940's -- some would also use them as stated above....... the type of ball that you have were never made for the above purposes, but true enough were used for the above.... there were actual FACTORY made ball & chains that were actually made for & used in the slave trade & prison use...... they all used what they could find & fashion together when needed.... hope this helps..... take care... joe

I am going to guess that my ball had a dual purpose--as a weight and restraint, as it was found in a church yard (slaves did attend mass) and there were numerous plantations in the area.

 

[mudpuppy]

This was a cool find! I've been thinking about what it might be for a few days now..so thanks for the update... that sure was a heavy find for you to go to the trouble of digging up...good work!
Mud