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Author Topic: US 8-inch siege mortar M1840  (Read 941 times)

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Offline cannonmn

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US 8-inch siege mortar M1840
« on: December 08, 2009, 05:02:59 PM »
This thing weighs 1/2 ton.  Pic shows underside.  Marks are JWR, C.A. and Co., Boston, 1842, No. 19.  Six of these have survived out of 40 accepted by the gov't.  Best photo available.

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Offline RocklockI

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Re: US 8-inch siege mortar M1840
« Reply #1 on: December 08, 2009, 05:07:39 PM »
John is that a new mantel piece ? or 1/2 of a set of book ends  :o. It is very cool and in bowling ball caliber ! WIN /WIN

Gary
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"I've seen too much not to stay in touch , With a world full of love and luck, I got a big suspicion 'bout ammunition I never forget to duck" J.B.

Offline Cannoneer

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Re: US 8-inch siege mortar M1840
« Reply #2 on: December 08, 2009, 06:44:54 PM »
This mortar is being offered for sale by a military antiques store for $24,500.00. It's either a little confusing or humorous, however you decide to look at it, that in the description it is in a few instances decribed as both a siege mortar and a coehorn.


"Just the item for under the Christmas tree!"

"In excellent overall condition, this very rare and original 'malleable iron' siege mortar, a.k.a. 'coehorn' was produced by the Cyrus Alger Company heavy armament firm of South Boston, Massachusetts (1810-1860)." 







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RIP John. While on vacation July 4th 2013 in northern Wisconsin, he was ATVing with family and pulled ahead of everyone and took off at break-neck speed without a helmet. He lost control.....hit a tree....and the tree won.  He died instantly.

The one thing that you can almost always rely on research leading to, is more research.

Offline cannonmn

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Re: US 8-inch siege mortar M1840
« Reply #3 on: December 10, 2009, 04:56:56 AM »
More photos.  It has been here at Springfield Arsenal for a couple of days, just needed to get around to unloading it.  The weight mark appears to be 974.  "U.S" is also visible but faint, the "U" being lots easier to see than the "S."  This one was apparently unknown to Wayne Stark as it wasn't on his list. so I'll need to do some checking to see where it was before it got into the retail trade.

One always hopes this was one of the few artillery pieces mentioned by registry number in something like the "Official Records." 

"...and well before dawn we took the first official shot of the Rebellion at the Yankee fort in the harbor with Old Betsy, 8-inch siege mortar no. 19..."

dream on, as they say

http://s17.photobucket.com/albums/b62/cannonmn/miscforumsetc/forums50/?action=view&current=d4ff1d98.pbw
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Offline Cannoneer

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Re: US 8-inch siege mortar M1840
« Reply #4 on: December 10, 2009, 08:27:32 AM »
Man, you're on a roll, congratulations! It's not going to help in informing where the mortar was, but No. 19 is listed on a March, 2009 National Registry. The weight is given as 934 lbs, which would be more in sync with the weights given for the other four listed; could that 7 really be a 3?
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RIP John. While on vacation July 4th 2013 in northern Wisconsin, he was ATVing with family and pulled ahead of everyone and took off at break-neck speed without a helmet. He lost control.....hit a tree....and the tree won.  He died instantly.

The one thing that you can almost always rely on research leading to, is more research.

Offline cannonmn

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Re: US 8-inch siege mortar M1840
« Reply #5 on: December 10, 2009, 01:16:34 PM »
Yes the weight is 934 lbs., not 974.  The "3" is hard to read.
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