Original British Anglo-Zulu War Mounted Inert Coiled Brass .577/450 Martini–Henry Souvenir Rounds on Plaque Marked “The Zulu War 1879” Original Items

Original Item: Only One Available. This is a lovely display piece that would be considered by most as a form of trench art. This souvenir item was more than likely put together by a veteran of the war upon its close. This is a lovely reminder of the harsh Zulu War fought in South Africa from 11 January – 4 July 1879.

The .577/450 Martini–Henry is a black powder, centrefire rifle cartridge. It was the standard British service cartridge from the early 1870s that went through two changes from the original brass foil wrapped case (with 14 parts) to the drawn brass of two parts, the case and the primer. The .577/450 Martini–Henry was introduced with the Martini–Henry, in service it succeeded the .577 Snider cartridge and was used by all arms of the British armed forces as well British colonial forces throughout the British Empire until it was itself succeeded by the .303 British cartridge after an unsuccessful trial of a .402 calibre.

The .577/450 Martini–Henry is a rimmed, bottlenecked centerfire rifle cartridge derived from the .577 Snider, it was lengthened and bottlenecked. The .577/450 Martini–Henry was developed for use in the single shot Martini–Henry service rifle, originally loaded with blackpowder but later used cordite propellant.

These two mounted examples look a little rough due to the style of brass casing which is known as being coiled. The first .577/450 Martini–Henry rifle cartridge, the Cartridge S.A. Ball Rifle Breech-Loading Martini Henry Mark I, was made of coiled brass sheet .003 in (0.076 mm) thick with a strengthening strip of brass inside the coil and the body of the cartridge was riveted to the iron base disc and lined with thin white tissue paper. The smooth sided bullet was paper-patched with a thick cake of beeswax below the bullet with two cardboard discs above and a single one below.

The plaque measures approximately 5” in diameter and presents itself with a lovely darkened gloss finish with the words THE ZULU WAR 1879 in gothic style lettering. The overall condition is quite nice and would make for a small yet impressive display item.

Comes more than ready for further research and display.