Civil War Union Hotchkiss Artillery Shell, recovered at Gettysburg

Several years ago, I acquired a very old collection of Gettysburg artillery shells. I held on to a couple of pieces, but the rest I have sold over the years, and this is the last one from that collection. They had crude tags with some more legible than the others because of their age. Being offered here is the bottom section of an exploded Hotchkiss shell.

On the bottom of the shell is a piece of old cloth tape and faintly in pencil is “Gettysburg” – there may have been more at one time. The 3-inch Hotchkiss shells were made in three pieces – the nose, the lead band (sabot), and the base cup. This example has the base, lead sabot, and some of the shell, all tightly intact.

In my book “Civil War Artillery – A Pictorial Introduction” and in “Battle of Gettysburg – The Relics, Artifacts & Souvenirs”, I have examples (see pictures). I go into more detail in the books about Gettysburg and the role artillery played during the war. This shell is intact and has three flame grooves. It is a heavy piece weighing six pounds. This is a 100% guaranteed true Gettysburg relic.