The shell is 11" high, is capped with a brass fuse and bound with a copper "driving ring" on the bottom. When a shell is fired it is not dangerous. It is basically just a hunk of metal which - after it is "fired" - is being spun round by the brass drive ring engaging the grooves in the barrel sending the shell spinning out the barrel.

Still not dangerous. There are many cases where artillery shells like this just hit something and made a small hole in a wall or the ground. No damage done, because the shell failed to explode.

It is the fuse which makes the shell deadly. It was graduated with increments in seconds in a ring around the top. Before loading it, an artilleryman would dial in the seconds that should elapse after the firing before the shell should explode. Often this was timed to go off as the shell was still in the air over the enemy, sending a shower of shrapnel balls - some 200 could be packed inside - down into the men cowering in trenches.

They Said it Couldn't Be Done: One of the biggest surprises of the war was how the Boers dismounted huge guns designed for use in forts, on to carriages and dragged them to different battlefields across South Africa. British military experts were unanimous that this could not be done. They were wrong.

Long Tom: Because of incessant sabre rattling by the British, President Kruger and the cabinet of the Transvaal Republic prepared for war by buying state-of-the-art Mauser rifles from Germany, and heavy Creusot guns from France. The Creusots were installed in the fort at Pretoria and in Johannesburg.

When war began, the Boers dismounted the Creusots from the forts and used large teams of oxen to trek them across the veldt to lay siege to the British towns of Kimberley, Ladysmith and Mafeking, which they surrounded. They lobbed shells into them on a daily basis (below).

The Boer Artillery (an officer and gunner shown extreme right and left) was the only group in the Boer Army that wore uniforms, not unlike those worn by the Europeans. The Boer artillerymen were trained by German gunners who probably insisted on uniforms to instill pride and discipline into "devil-may-care" young Boer farmer boys.

The cards, right, were supplied free inside German chocolate bars during the war to show support for the Boer cause.

Right, the Boer Long Tom as they were in action against the besieged British colonial towns.

Water Bottle: Water for the Victorian foot soldier was a constant problem as the British Army campaigned in the hot regions of the world, like India and Africa. The wooden water cask or canteen (right) was in service in the 19th century. The one right is dated 1886, and was made like larger whiskey barrels, of vertical staves held tightly together by a metal hoop at the top and bottom. A leather strap was used to sling it across a Tommy's shoulder.

One can only guess at the rotten fungi of all kinds that infested the interior of these canteens and bred with wild abandon in the suffocating African heat. Probably diseases from these fetid canteens carried off more Tommies than the spears of hostile warriors.

This Boer water cask is made just like the British cask above, with vertical staves bound with iron hoops.

Marking up memorabilia items with dates and names was common on all sides, eager to have souvenirs to show "back home."

This one has the date "1899" the word "Transvaal" and "Afrika," the spelling indicating that a Boer did the writing. It probably was used in the early part of the war when the shooting was still being done from static, entrenched positions, like at Magersfontein and Modder River in Nov. and Dec. 1899.

The carrying handle would make this a poor choice for a mounted man so it probably sat in a trench on the ground.

These items - like this one - turn up, a century later, on ebay, as estate sales clear out items that the current generation has no interest in anymore.

The new enamel canteen also had a quick action cork stopper instead of the tedious screw stopper of the wooden cask canteen, and a small chain because the old stoppers were forever getting lost rendering the wooden canteens useless.