Civil War Artillery Gunner’s Mallet, example in Gettysburg Museum

This is another nice item I am listing from an artillery collection I just acquired; it is a Civil War Gunners Fuse Mallet. It is made of oak measuring 4” x 2 ¾” and overall length 11”. These types of mallets were used to seat the wooden time fuses into artillery shells. Using an iron hammer would not only increase the possibility of a spark but could damage the fuse plug.

In the old Gettysburg National Battlefield Museum, there was an example of this Gunners Mallet displayed on the lower level of the museum, along with other artillery artifacts (see pictures). Overall, this mallet is in solid condition, but showing the normal wear and tear for its age. I go into more detail on artillery implements in my book "Civil War Artillery - A Pictorial Introduction" (see pictures). This is one of the more difficult Civil War artillery items to find.