Militia Pistol Cartridge box, found with Civil War fuses inside

This is another really interesting piece being offered, it is a leather Militia Pistol Cartridge Box, measuring 5 ½” x 4”. When this box was found, there was an unopened package of Civil War artillery fuses (five in the package) inside. The fuses still have the string around them, but the paper is very fragile.

The cartridge box has a brass finial but no closing strap. The outside cover has some loss of the thin leather. If I held on to this piece for my collection, I would use some thick black paint to cover the spot, but I will leave that up to the new owner to decide.

The box and fuses are in somewhat “relic condition”, but everything is still stable. My personal opinion is that this was an early battlefield pickup or barn-find. You can see that some time in the past, a string tag was attached, probably with more information. All I know is that it came out of Pennsylvania. I would lean towards the fact that this box and fuses were used by a Confederate artilleryman – a little too crude to be used by the Union.

In my book “Civil War Artillery – A Pictorial Introduction”, I show and discuss these fuses (see pictures). This is an interesting relic, and one that I have never seen before. It comes in the glass top display case pictured.