Boer War 1898 Pom Pom Shells (Bids are for the group of 3 shells)

Please note that you are bidding for all 3 shells.

One shell was manufactured in 1898 by the Karlsruhe Patron Fabriek. The other two do not have markings.

They were fired by the Vickers-Maxim 37mm QF ‘pom-poms’

At the outbreak of the Anglo Boer War the Staats Artillerie of the Transvaal Republic had about 25 ‘pom-poms’, with a number of rounds of ammunition estimated by different sources between 46 311 and 72 000.  The British troops disliked the rapid fire of the pom-pom (it operated on the machine-gun principle, belt-loaded with 25 shells per belt) and requests for similar weapons resulted in 57 Vickers-Maxim 37mm QF ‘pom-poms’ being sent out.

The standard pom-pom shell was a 1-lb [454gm] cast iron common shell, powder filled, with a thickness of wall of approximately 7mm (.275” in the British manufactured rounds). The shell was fitted with a graze-action nose fuze of percussion type.

This case has a small split in the neck.

Part of the impact fuse is missing.

Two cases have no markings and may have been refurbished at some time.