Falconet ball with hole

[Matchlock]

Hi Marcus,

Yes, I do have records of hollow iron balls/grenades fired from pieces of ordnance from at least the 17 through the early 19th centuries.
So your guess that that piece might be a falconet ball is also backed up by the diameter of ca. 30 mm of the piece.

Until 6 years ago, there used to be a huge and complete original breechloading falconet (German: Bockbüchse auf Lafette) in my collection. The barrel was dated 1619, the second year of the Thirty Years War, and struck with a maker's mark wuith the initals VR in a shield, Zella, Thuringia, and the Saxon coat-of-arms (Zella was part of Saxony in the 17th century). The bore was 35 mm.

The whole ensemble was purchased by the museum of the castle of Burg Stolpen, Saxonia, Eastern Germany, where it is on exhibition today.

Next to that singularly complete ensemble, the first attachment depicts my friend Armin König, who builds the finest replicas of earliest arsenal arms worldwide, many of them made after originals from my collection.

His address is
Armin König
Kirchstr. 3
D-95691 Hohenberg a.d. Eger
Bavaria, Germany
ArminKoenigHbg@aol.com
http://www.engerisser.de/Bewaffnung/.../Firearms.html

The first photo is copyrighted by Armin König, the others are copyrighted by Heinz Grodon and Hermann Historica.

Best,
Michl