"When they are destroyed they are gone permanently": Museum asks detectorists not to melt Civil War musket and cannon balls

This article originally appeared on Culture24.

Curator says metal detectorists should resist chance to melt down civil war metal

In the shadows of the spotlights shone on some of the country’s most high-profile and lucrative archaeological finds, musket balls – and, to a lesser extent, cannon balls – almost always have a historical significance outweighing their monetary value.

Their amateur finders, believe experts, are sometimes tempted to melt them down and sell them as lead. Despite the importance of the metal detectorist discoveries which line many a museum shelf, there are concerns that some artefacts are being discarded, leaving their tales forever untold.

“Where these objects are discovered and in what concentration helps provide a window on the past,” says Glyn Hughes, the Collections Team Leader at the National Civil War Centre in Newark.

“But when they are destroyed they are gone permanently and take their story with them.

“There is plenty of ordinance out there waiting to be discovered - Newark endured three sieges and was surrounded by up to 16,000 Parliamentarian and Scots troops for six months.

“We have a brilliant relationship with many detectorists, but we want to appeal to a very small minority who may occasionally weigh in musket balls for their lead value to come to us first.

“Usually they do so because they lack an understanding of what we can gain by preserving such items.”

Ten years ago, Newark’s museum only held half a dozen musket balls. Detectorists such as Maurice Richardson, a local detectorist who found a spectacular Iron Age golden necklace in 2005, have played a key role in upping the ammunition.
 
“We come across a lot of lead musket balls and occasionally cannon balls,” says Richardson, whose treasure moved to the new centre from the British Museum last month.

“They have survived for more than 370 years and are part of the fabric of our history.

“For the vast majority of detectorists, what gets them out of bed in the morning is the thrill of discovery and helping bring to objects to light and preserving them."

• Detectorists and the public are being invited to bring their finds to a recording and identification antiquities roadshow at the centre on Saturday (July 18 2015) between 10am-5pm. Admission free to visitors bringing objects. Handling sessions with museum objects will take place from 1pm-3pm. Standard admission £3-£7.

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Three museums to see civil war stories in:

Corinium Museum, Cirencester
Trace a path from the Iron Age to the English Civil War in the second largest city in Roman Britain. A story of war, wool, royalty, dissolved monasteries a local worthy’s rise from rags to riches.

Lilleshall Abbey, near Telford
Extensive ruins of an Augustinian abbey, later a Civil War stronghold, in a deeply rural setting. Much of the church survives, unusually viewable from gallery level, along with the lavishly sculpted processional door and other cloister buildings.

Nantwich Museum, Cheshire
The museum has main galleries telling the story of Nantwich through the ages - Roman salt making, Tudor Nantwich's Great Fire, the Civil War Battle of Nantwich (1644) and the more recent emergence of shoe and clothing industries.

Source: http://www.culture24.org.uk/history-and-heritage/archaeology/art532096-when-they-are-destroyed-they-are-gone-permanently-museum-asks-detectorists-not-to-melt-civil-war-musket-balls