Rare Civil War Era Union Leather Cartridge Box w/Tin Insert & US Brass Plate For Sale

Rare Civil War Era Union Leather Cartridge Box w/Tin Insert & US Brass Plate
When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.

Buy Now

Rare Civil War Era Union Leather Cartridge Box w/Tin Insert & US Brass Plate:
$550.00

Rare, Unique US Civil War EraUnion Soldier's Cartridge Boxwith Tin Insert, US Brass Plate + Spare Fusnot Pinfire Bullet
Check out this unique Union Soldier's Cartridge Box from the US Civil War era. I've not been able to reconstruct its past; however, there are a multitude of clues that a war relic collector or expert could use to solve the riddle of its exact provenance. I've shown as many photos as allows me to post, which may or may not clearly show what I've observed about this find, which I've outlined below.LEATHERS & MARKINGS - Observing its materials, this box appears to be crafted from a mix of leathers. (1)
  • My initial thoughts are that this box is a mix of oak-blackened buff leather mixed with a sleek, waxed leather inner flap, but I cannot be certain.
  • Its short inner flap is crafted from a starkly different leather than the rest of its leather construction. Looking down between this inner flap and the inner back of the bag reveals what appears to be its original brown/tan finish OR is that rust? (see photo) Either way, this inner flap's sides appear to be made of the same thick leather of the main box sides, while the flap is made of a thinner swath of shiny black leather with a stark grain pattern. The inner side of that swath appears grey, and I'm not sure why it would be that way unless this box was reconstructed to add this inner at a later date, either because it was built without it from the start or it needed a replacement for damage. That's hard to imagine since no other parts of this box appear to have suffered any catastrophic damage - not even in the least bit.
  • Because of the mixed leather, my thoughts go to a few places:
    1. this could be a rough model created when the government was testing out a new model design during the period around 1862 when they changed from buff to wax leather,
    2. or it could be a state-issued box from a "small-time" crafter,
    3. or it has been recycled and refitted from a prior conflict, or repaired for use in a later conflict.
    4. or it's just an odd variant
  • Box was constructed without the small front pouch featured on most all cartridge boxes of this type.
  • No maker's marks appear on this box; however, my research noted that some manufacturers stamped their marks into the short inner flap. If the inner flap is a replacement, then that may explain the lack of maker's mark. Then again, collectors have also found instances of original issue boxes without marks.
  • In analyzing this box for a maker's mark, what I had first regarded as scratches appearing on primarily one side of the outer box started to look like lettering etched into the leather. Looking under a 600-watt LED, I was able to take a photo of the box's left side and on the right side of its front below the flap where a repeated pair of letters emerged, at least to my eyes, that read "FP". I've created a graphic with the side panel repeated 3x to try and illustrate what I see.

CONSTRUCTION - This box is primarily put together using rivets.
  • Front flap's fastening strap is attached only by a rivet, turned the opposite way from most boxes and without the crescent-shaped reinforcement stitching above the rivet.
  • The leather sling was never cut for the common eagle or US badge plate and has no obvious wear from any other implement being attached to it.
  • Its belt and sling loops were cut, woven through as expected; however, leather straps are attached to the back and bottom of the box solely with brass rivets.
  • Further, there is no stitchwork anywhere on the box except for the sides of the core box and the short sides of the inner flap.
  • Even the strap buckles are attached through to the bottom of the box with rivets.

FINIAL - The finial on this case is round as opposed to pear-shaped found on the most common surviving boxes.
FRONT BRASS PLATE Looking to the inner side of the front flap, the US brass plate is attached to the box with 4 rusty bent wires. This eventually got to me and I carefully straightened the wires and wiggled the plate off the bag, and two things emerged.
  1. The flap had originally been supplied with vertical slits to fit the expected loop/leather peg plate attachment.
  2. The plate back appears as if someone laid thick blobs of soldering iron down on the back to set a stage for adding the four wire posts, then soldered the wires in place to create a fastening system for the plate. They then punched 4 small corresponding holes into the flap to attach OR reattach the plate to the flap.

TIN INSERT - While there's nothing exceptional about the tin itself, it does appear to have several printed or stamped characters visible on its surface.
BULLET - (2) This box contained a single bullet in its tin, and though it's a different type than would have been carried in this box, it is an unfired US Civil War era pinfire cartridge with headstamp reading, “FUSNOT * BRUXELLES”. Manufactured by Charles Fusnot in Belgium, the “short” pinfire cartridge has a lead bullet (with wide band) seated into a copper case with a stout pin protruding from the bottom edge. A self-contained cartridge, the “pin” rests in a percussion cap seated in the bottom of the case. When struck by the pistol hammer, the pin exploded the cap igniting the powder charge. Pinfire cartridges were made in 2mm (blanks for watch fob pistols), 5mm, 7mm, 9mm, 12mm, 15mm, and for various gauge shotguns. These were primarily made in Europe for the Lefaucheux revolver and were measured in millimeters.
Please ask questions before purchase and feel free to make me an offer.(1) Most of the information about the box's construction was extracted or learned from the following websites: McIrvin, L. (2014) Definitions of leather and US Infantry Cartridge Boxes: A guide to their use, The Liberty Rifles. Available at: [link removed by ] (Accessed: 22 May 2024). Knopp, K.R. (2018) Military leather in the 19th century – its methods & secrets, Confederate Saddles & Horse Equipment. Available at: [link removed by ] (Accessed: 22 May 2024). (2) Small, C. (2024) 12MM PINFIRE CARTRIDGE BY CHARLES FUSNOT. Available at: (Accessed: 22 May 2024). Charles Fusnot, 12mm Pinfire Cartridge information extracted from this URL.
Buy Now

Titles of Distinction

Orders of Distinction