Posts: 5,981 Location: Birmingham, Alabama
Mon 08 Nov, 2004 10:14 am
I still don't understand why this would be bronze if it's some sort of munition, and that "stand" or whatever it is looks so irregular that I echo the suggestion that it's casting sprue. That still leaves the problem of why anyone would go to the trouble of casting the object only to abandon it unfinished. The molten look and material of that part of the object resembles the base of a myterious alloy "pig" I found in the rootball of a large downed tree many years ago. My geologist uncle advised me to have somebody run a geiger counter over the thing to make sure it wasn't radioactive (it wasn't), and that's something you might want to consider as well.
Anyway, I've just seen a line drawing of an Excelsior grenade and feel there's no need to scan it because the second image I posted above is almost certainly one of these grenades, minus its outer shell. I also looked at various Civil War era arty rounds, and I think the McIntyre Repeating Shell theory is probably closer to the truth IF this thing is a weapon. I didn't see one of that particular type, but the ball & sabot design seems to have been common. I guess your object could be the interior of such a round, but I know exactly zero about artillery. I don't know why something like that would be in Panama, but stranger things have happened (the Confederado community in South America, for example). Try posting your question over at the Camp Chase Gazette forum. Maybe some Civil War artillery re-enactor can solve this mystery for you. Here's the link:
http://www.campchase.com/