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Old 14th March 2014, 07:50 PM   #1
Marcus den toom
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Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: Netherlands
Posts: 493
Default English civil war lead powder cap

Most of us probably have seen the wooden powder flasks hanging from a belt (a bandolier). These powder flask contained an exact amount of black powder for one single shot.
I came across this item, a lead powder cap for such a wooden powder flask. It had originally 2 rings as did the powder flask a cord was knotted to these two parts so to prevent them from beeing seperated.

This example was found at a digging site at Newark, England. It dates most likely to the English civil war and is in quit a good condition, considering the structural integrity of lead.
Lead was, due to the Derbyshire lead mines, a common ore in England and was used for all sorts of things, like lead glazed windows, during and after the 17th century.
Maybe because of this excessive amount of lead, it was also used as a powder flask end cap, instead of the more common wooden plug?

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