Lead / grease / flint container

[Yvain]

Hi all,



Found last week, this small container made of brass with heavy wear. Those have been discussed here before (http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=20598&highlight=Bullet+bronze, http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=17586) and have been described as lead balls, grease, or flints containers. I don't have much more to add on the subject but I can link this example from Georgia from the Quai Branly, describe as a lead shot container : https://m.quaibranly.fr/fr/explorer-les-collections/base/Work/action/show/notice/78428-boite-a-plomb.



Anyway, I like this one, even though the attachments are broken, the wear on the engraving is pretty cool I think.

[rickystl]

Hi Yvain

I have 2-3 of these little containers myself. The committee is still out on what these brass containers were actually used for. Today, collectors refer to them as grease containers for ease of discussion. Many believe they were used to carry grease or fat. Trouble is, I've never seen/heard of one having any evidence of old grease inside the container. Some believe that they were used to carry shot/balls/bullets. But this doesn't make sense. The container is too small for carrying shot. Plus, the soft lead balls would bounce around and become slightly deformed. Not good from a shooter's perspective. Still others (including myself) believe they were used to carry spare gun flints and/or oiled small rags for cleaning. But again, still know one is sure.

We do know that the other, small, flat "square shaped" containers were used to carry the miniature copies of the Koran. But these pear shaped containers are still a mystery.

Rick

[cyten]

I personally believe these were for carrying grease or oiled rags based on what I've heard from collectors in Bulgaria, Turkey, and the Caucasus. The author of "Turkish Weapons" and "Weapons of the Caucasus", E. Astvatsaturyan also suggests this. I picked one up in a Mosque in Rize, Turkey. It was hanging on a wall and when I asked about it, they told me it was an "old thing for cleaning guns."

Here is a period photo of Georgian irregulars in the Russo-Turkish War in 1877