Rare 19th Century Civil War cannon barrel shaped wooden factory mold, mock-up, pattern from a cannon foundry. Civil War period, dated 1863. Used for sand casting of signal cannons. Possibly Farrel Birmingham. 22" length X 5" width. The mold is divided in half, with black paint & has attached metal numbers for the date 1863. Provenance - Robert L White arms collection, South Carolina, & formerly a museum display piece. ** rubs & abrasions to the paint, some wood loss to the reverse side as pictured. Produced from hardwood, wooden mock-ups such as this one were used in the making of cannons via the "sand casting" method, where a 1 to 1 scale wooden dummy would be prepared with the desired dimensions, and placed into a chamber packed with damp sand, which would retain it's shape after the dummy was removed, creating a cavity into which molten metal is then poured. Farrel Birmingham used to produce bayonets and cannons during the Civil War; they also produced gears for the Navy and General Motors.