GUEST: I mean, it looks like something that came from a cannon or a gun, but I got it at a yard sale for three dollars... APPRAISER: Impressive.

GUEST: ...to use as a doorstop.

APPRAISER: What it is is a Civil War cannon projectile.

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: It's three inches across...

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: ...and it fires out of a three-inch rifled cannon.

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: They call it an Archer shell.

And they call it a shell because at the top, we have the fuse hole.

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: And that's where the powder went inside, and it would have had a wooden plug that seated down inside the hole.

GUEST: Oh, okay.

APPRAISER: And it had a wick that came out of the top...

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: ...called a time fuse.

And it would have burned like a wick until it was time for the cannon shell to explode.

GUEST: Like a firecracker.

APPRAISER: Exactly, just like a firecracker.

GUEST: Yeah.

APPRAISER: If the fuse was still in it...

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: ...and it was airtight, the powder would still be live.

Recently, there have been a, a couple of accidents from trying to disarm the pieces manually...

GUEST: Mm-hmm, mmm.

APPRAISER: ...that have caused serious injury.

GUEST: I thought gunpowder disintegrates over time.

APPRAISER: No.

GUEST: No.

APPRAISER: And now, and see, that's a common misconception.

GUEST: Really?

APPRAISER: Because if it's airtight, it's still live.

The shell itself is made of cast iron.

The top part...

GUEST: Uh-huh.

APPRAISER: ...and the middle body is iron.

GUEST: Uh-huh.

APPRAISER: This, you know what material that is?

GUEST: Mm-mm.

APPRAISER: It's lead.

This is what they call a lead "sa-bit" or "sa-boh."

This was fired out of an ordnance rifle, a rifled cannon.

And lead is a softer material than the iron of the body of the shell.

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: And so when you load the cannon, you have the powder behind the shell here at the bottom...

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: ...and when the powder charge explodes, the force from the explosion spreads the lead out.

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: And as it goes down the cannon barrel, it spins, it goes on the lands and grooves of the barrel, causing it to go further and be more accurate.

GUEST: And does the fact that this is still on it mean it was, means it was never fired?

APPRAISER: Probably, because we can't see the lands and grooves.

This one's in very nice shape.

If you had to guess, what's your three-dollar doorstop worth?

GUEST: A friend of mine who belongs to the Stone Mountain Historical Society thought maybe $500.

APPRAISER: Well, he's close.

One in this pretty shape...

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: ...with the sabot, would bring about $1,500, retail.

GUEST: Oh!

Okay.

APPRAISER: But is the door that it's holding a $1,500 door?

GUEST: No.

APPRAISER: We need to get it away from that door.

(laughs)