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Posted 02/19/2023 7:43 pm
It is certainly a lead seal. The holes on opposite sides of the rim are a clear indication of this. And you can see bits of the "string" still stuck inside the edge of the seal.
However, I'm not entirely sure that "CSA" necessarily has anything to do with the Confederate States. I suspect it's just a coincidence, and it's just somebody's initials.
Lead seals were generally more informative of the actual owners of the goods being shipped; it's my understanding that while the Confederate Government itself did sometimes take direct ownership of goods running the Union blockade, they always did so under assumed names and foreign shell companies, to try to avoid seizure - so a lead seal proudly shouting "Made in the CSA" to all the world would not have been onboard.
Finally, of course... I'd have thought the Confederates needed all the lead they could get their hands on, for turning into ammunition. Putting chunks of lead onto bales of cotton or tobacco for exporting to Rome, would have been exporting somebody's bullets they could have been using to shoot at Yankees. The blockade-runners that were shipping the cotton outbound would, on the homeward leg, be bringing back war material vital to the war effort - things such as lead ingots.
However, I'm not entirely sure that "CSA" necessarily has anything to do with the Confederate States. I suspect it's just a coincidence, and it's just somebody's initials.
Lead seals were generally more informative of the actual owners of the goods being shipped; it's my understanding that while the Confederate Government itself did sometimes take direct ownership of goods running the Union blockade, they always did so under assumed names and foreign shell companies, to try to avoid seizure - so a lead seal proudly shouting "Made in the CSA" to all the world would not have been onboard.
Finally, of course... I'd have thought the Confederates needed all the lead they could get their hands on, for turning into ammunition. Putting chunks of lead onto bales of cotton or tobacco for exporting to Rome, would have been exporting somebody's bullets they could have been using to shoot at Yankees. The blockade-runners that were shipping the cotton outbound would, on the homeward leg, be bringing back war material vital to the war effort - things such as lead ingots.
Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis
