'History Detectives' go sleuthing in city

Does a vial of metal shavings in fact contain metal from one of the Confederacy's most famous guns?

That's the question that the cast and crew of PBS' "History Detectives" television series are trying to answer this week during their visit here.

A Charleston antique dealer had found a corked test tube with what looked like metal filings while browsing at an estate sale.

The tube contained a note that reads: "Old Secession was rebored at the Charleston Iron Works May 4/99 and fired by Palmetto Guard Company U.C.V. in honor of U.C.V. reunion May 10/99."

A cannon known as "Old Secession" was fired on Dec. 20, 1860, in downtown Charleston to mark the state's new Ordinance of Secession, and the dealer asked the series to determine if his shavings came from that gun.

The cannon also was fired in May 1899 at East Bay and Broad streets, as about 30,000 Confederate veterans gathered in Charleston for a big reunion.

"History Detective" Elyse Luray filmed inside the Confederate Museum Wednesday, talking with its director, June Wells, as well as Liisa Nasanen and Michael Drews, both of the Clemson Conservation Center.

Luray, Nasanen and Drews examined the shavings with an XRF Spectrometer, and Drews explained how the machine could detect the different elements present in the metal material.

Luray said the program is not focusing solely on the shavings but also telling the story of Charleston after the war.

"We try to connect something to the bigger picture," she said. "The story is not just the cannon. It's about Charleston after the Civil War, how the soldiers came home to nothing. The slaves were freed but had nothing. The city had to be rebuilt."

Still, the answer about the shavings' authenticity is also no small matter, particularly to their owner.

"It would dramatically affect the value if it had any connection to the Civil War," said Luray, an appraiser and art historian. Not only are such Confederate war relics more rare, but they're also more in demand, she said.

Wells noted that the "Old Secession" gun was rebored for the reunion. "They got the fragments out of it so it wouldn't explode," she said, adding that veterans attending the reunion were given filings from it as souvenirs. The Confederate Museum has a few envelopes in its collections containing other shavings -- so it's possible to compare them to what's in the dealer's vial.

Wells said the gun's whereabouts today is a mystery.

Luray declined to say if the shavings are, in fact, a match -- or even who the antique dealer was. All of that will be revealed when the episode airs next summer, during the show's ninth season.

Asked if the show will provide a definitive answer, Luray replied, "Definitely."

The show's filming is expected to wrap up today at White Point Garden and the Old Exchange building.

Reach Robert Behre at 937-5771.