An Unexpected Find

Clunk.

Your heart sinks, as your shovel hits brass instead of dirt. The sound carries along the shaft, numbing your fingers.

Thankfully, this did not end in a bright flash and unplanned renovations for my neighbors. The explosives had been removed long ago. This was discarded decommissioned ordnance. It had a twin, lying beside it.

Not something you find every day. One must hope, anyway.

As it was unlikely to explode, I dug them up. It turns out some anonymous person had taken these artillery shells, and hammered them into flower vases. At some point, they had been forgotten for a few decades, and been buried under tropical foliage. The fact remained that someone had once spent the time to take something ugly, and make it beautiful.

Time was not kind to them, but thankfully I had a few liters of hydrochloric acid. This was before it became a regulated substance -- I used it to etch circuit boards back then. So I donned protective gear, and cleaned them up! Then I gave them away.

I also checked the serial number on the bottom of the munitions. They were American made, but not from the American War. These were from WWII, and were likely originally intended for use against the Japanese.

Sadly, I did not own a proper camera at the time, so this is the only photo of the serial number I have:

The serial number can be used to determine date of manufacture.

Fruits from a Poisoned Tree

I gave these away, but someone taught me a slang term for them.

The fruits of democracy. Taken literally, like fruits that fall from the democracy tree.

I thought that was clever.