Signal Mortar - HELP!

[BennyBoy28]

Hey guys, I'm newly recommended here! I'm a member of a similar page for New York Firearms & Accessories and was told this was the place to get help.
Long story short, I bought out a reloading estate and this little signal mortar? was part of the "pile". I have interest in selling it eventually, but was hoping to get "educated" on what it is, what it's worth, age, etc. before doing so. It's weird, there appears to be no markings anywhere. It appears to be brass, the bore diameter is just shy of 1" @ .965" according to my "chinesium" calipers. Bore/chamber? depth appears to be 3.25". Again, no visible markings anywhere. Any ideas?

 

[EC121]

It has the look of a Coehorn mortar.

 

[Captndan]

It has the look of a Coehorn mortar.

I agree.

 

[BennyBoy28]

I agree.

Thanks for the help! What's weird to me is, the smallest version i've seen is for a golf ball. This one is significantly smaller.
Are these valuable?

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Thanks for the help! What's weird to me is, the smallest version i've seen is for a golf ball. This one is significantly smaller.
Are these valuable?

Well that sorta depends on who your "buyer" is, right?

It's pretty much a noise maker. Great on The 4th of July, New Year's Eve at midnight, or when the local high school/college team makes a touchdown (used with permission of course), but otherwise....,

It might also be used by military reenactors as a "signal gun". Historic sites based on a fort, when having an event, should be signaling their camping participants at 08:00 (sometimes earlier) by firing off a gun, as was historically done. It's expensive to use an actual artillery piece, then and now, so they came up with small, signaling guns. Sometimes these were called "thunder mugs". The reenactors like to use something like this too.

Yours might work and would take less powder, I'd venture.

LD

 

[BennyBoy28]

Well that sorta depends on who your "buyer" is, right?

It's pretty much a noise maker. Great on The 4th of July, New Year's Eve at midnight, or when the local high school/college team makes a touchdown (used with permission of course), but otherwise....,

It might also be used by military reenactors as a "signal gun". Historic sites based on a fort, when having an event, should be signaling their camping participants at 08:00 (sometimes earlier) by firing off a gun, as was historically done. It's expensive to use an actual artillery piece, then and now, so they came up with small, signaling guns. Sometimes these were called "thunder mugs". The reenactors like to use something like this too.

View attachment 367845

Yours might work and would take less powder, I'd venture.

LD

Cool!! Thanks for all the insight! Who would've thought!