Brass Shell Case

[Fiji Dave]

Afternoon all,

knowing many divers propensity for Brass objects I figured this might be a good place to ask...

I'm looking for a brass shell case, but one from a particularly large shell. I used to have one which I used as a coal bucket, that's how big it was! - I can't remember exactly but it was somewhere around 10-11" in diameter, possibly more. It had been cut down to about a foot in height.
It was from WWI and I think was some sort of howitzer shell, but I don't know exactly what calibre.

Unfortunately when I moved out of my ex's it was one of the things left behind

I need a new coal bucket and want to replace the shell case with another. I've searched high and low but can't find anything of that size.

Does anyone have anything out there or know of anywhere that would sell such a thing? I keep an eye out in local antique shops, it's where we got the last one (for about 20quid if i remember!)

Cheers,
Dave

[NeilB]

There you go....just have to ship from NZ!

40mm Brass shell case for sale - TradeMe.co.nz - New Zealand

or from the US http://www.oldguns.net/catho.htm

[incapete]

There you go....just have to ship from NZ!

40mm Brass shell case for sale - TradeMe.co.nz - New Zealand

or from the US Heavy Ordnance Catalog

40mm isn't going to fit much coal inside it!

[BigG]

Can't you "pop round" to the ex's and liberate said item?

G

[dynarob]

40mm isn't going to fit much coal inside it!

might make a good pencil pot though!

A friend had two brass naval shell cases about 2' long and 5" diameter a couple of weeks ago off Lulworth Banks, he turns them into umbrella stands. He found the first and remembered being told you quite often find them in pairs so he had a look around and found the other nearby!

I see quite a few enormous pointy explosive looking devices (look like giant bullets and quite often in pairs) in the Lulworth area, they are about 3' long and 1' in diameter. I usually steer clear of them as I am not sure what they are!

Despite the price of scrap falling through the floor at the moment I expect that a brass sheel the size the OP describes is going to be worth quite a bit these days.

[witchieblackcat]

There's quite a lot of shell cases in the Cadmus off Bridlington. Not sure that there's anything as big as you describe but I got one of these:





If I can find it in the garage then it's yours if you want it.
You'll not get a lot of coal in it though

[Fiji Dave]

Yep, I'm fairly sure it would set me back a bit if i can find one. We were having to stifle our laughter as we handed over a mere 20quid for it!

I already have an 18lb shell case for the fire-irons. The 40mm one might do for holding the matches to light the fire!

[Jetsam]

I think the most common WW1 large field howitzer caliber was the 9.2 inch. I believe there was some larger, but it's a fair bet that they had seperate shell and soft cordite charges (like on larger RN ships) as they get a bit unmanageable in a single unit above this size.

[Bunter]

.

[Fiji Dave]

I would think that today the scrap value of brass is more than that if its large enough to hold coal!

Yep, I know it'll cost more than the 20 quid we paid for the last one. The same shop had a very nice old porthole, again about 10-12" in diameter for about 15quid... Wish i'd bought that too!