ball and chain

I have a prison ball and chain with the letters 563P inscribed into it.
can anyone tell me anything about it or is it worth anything.
I have had it myself about 30 years.

There are lots of fakes and reproductions of ball and chains. If you can add a photo that would help identify what you have.

Hope this helps.

Steve

I have a prison ball and chain with the letters 563P inscribed into it.
can anyone tell me anything about it or is it worth anything.
I have had it myself about 30 years.

Re: ball and chain

I have a prison ball and chain with the letters 563P inscribed into it.
can anyone tell me anything about it or is it worth anything.
I have had it myself about 30 years.

Hi thanks for your reply

I know there is a lot of fakes but this is def a genuine 1

have tried to put pics on but i have no idea how to lol

But thanks anyway

I have a prison ball and chain with the letters 563P inscribed into it.
can anyone tell me anything about it or is it worth anything.
I have had it myself about 30 years.

Here are the five pictures Jackie sent me to post. Hopefully someone will be able to give him some good information about them.

Ron

I have a prison ball and chain with the letters 563P inscribed into it.
can anyone tell me anything about it or is it worth anything.
I have had it myself about 30 years.

Absolute fake that was made in someone's garage.

NOTHING real about this!!!

I have a prison ball and chain with the letters 563P inscribed into it.
can anyone tell me anything about it or is it worth anything.
I have had it myself about 30 years.

Thanks for reply. How can you tell this is fake.I had a guy from America wanting to buy this he told me it was genuine.I have no idea myself I just had it sitting in my garden for 30 years and wanted to know if there was any history to it
Jackie

I have a prison ball and chain with the letters 563P inscribed into it.
can anyone tell me anything about it or is it worth anything.
I have had it myself about 30 years.

One of the best indicators is the presence of electric welding.
The chain was welded to the ball.
In the day, chain was made of a rod and hammered into links. The ball is interesting as it has some hollow space.
Authentic balls are pretty much solid.

I estimate that 95% of all ball and chains are made up at home or in a metal shop and never saw prison use.

Mark
O--O

I have a prison ball and chain with the letters 563P inscribed into it.
can anyone tell me anything about it or is it worth anything.
I have had it myself about 30 years.

Thanks for your response mark.
I guess it will just sit in my garden for a while longer as an ornament.
Jackie

I have a prison ball and chain with the letters 563P inscribed into it.
can anyone tell me anything about it or is it worth anything.
I have had it myself about 30 years.

When it comes to a ball and chain it is not such an easy question.

The item pictured here was not made by a recognized manufacturer. That is clear. But it is still not necessarily a "fake". Chain gangs and similar punishments existed in jails and prisons in this country well past WWII. It is pretty likely that most of the hardware was made locally in the jail or prison or in a local shop.

So just because something looks homemade and relatively modern it is not necessarily a fake. It may have been cobbled together by a prison in 1950 in Alabama using modern chain and an arc welder.

Not to say that there are not fakes. Just go to eBay and you will see plenty of repros from South Asia.

Joe

I have a prison ball and chain with the letters 563P inscribed into it.
can anyone tell me anything about it or is it worth anything.
I have had it myself about 30 years.

Thanks joe

Nice to hear a more interesting feed back, rather than "just fake"

Jackie