What is the gash in these balls?

Hi,
I see this every once in a while where something is being sold as a ball from a ball and chain. There is a gash. One of mine also has an iron screw imbedded in it. The second pic is from ebay.
Mike

The top ball is some type of industrial weight, The slot would allow it to fit onto a thick sheet of metal and be pinned in place. The second ball appears to have the fixing loop arc welded on. These are mock ups and not originals.  

The second pic also shows machine welded chain was used. That is a tell tale sign that these are "mock-ups" or fakes. A true ball and chain, would have chain that is much older and would have been heat forged before the invention of precise machine welding. On your first pic, the one with the Tower Leg Iron attached, has way too short of a chain. This is a standard Tower Leg Iron that probably had the lock fail on the other cuff. So, the owner popped the other leg Iron off, screwed the eye bolt into the steel weight and attached the chain to it, to simulate a legit ball and chain. Most real ball and chains were rounded up in the scrap metal drives for the war effort and melted down. Its very difficult, and often very expensive to find and be able to buy a real ball and chain.
-Richard Knip-

I hope these photos of a factory original ball & chain will be of some help as you can see that the chain attaches to the ball with a link referred to as a “staple “ and as Richard stated all the chain links are hand forged and not welded. The factory original ball does not have any grooves or slots milled or cast in them.

What kind of cuff is attached to your factory original ball and chain? Just curious. Looks to be in great condition! A really nice piece!
-Richard Knip-

Richard

It is a 50 lbs. double shackle Bean.

Spencer

ball & chain, you have a great factory make Bean double B & C.  Very rare to see something like this in great condition.

Ron

Scrap metal drives did more for morale than the actual war effort but also distroyed the some of the nations history. Intesting article at https://www.historynet.com/iron-will-sc ... istory.htm

Thanks Ron, it is the centerpiece of my collection.

Spencer

I didnt realize it was you commenting, Spencer. Your Bean Ball and Chain is a very nice find for your collection! I just didnt recognize it. my apologies.

Ian, very interesting article on the scrap drives or the war effort! It hard to say what was scrapped in vain and what was scrapped that actually helped the war effort. One of the cannons that was turned to scrap, may have very well been included in a piece of machinery that turned the tide of the war. Its unfortunate to lose History like that, but had we lost the war, not only would North America have lost, but the entire world would have been at jeopardy, had Hitler won and his machine continued on, conquering the world. Americans in general are very nostalgic, when it comes to our history. There were many triumphs, but also things we would like to remove from our history, but cannot...due to the fear of them ever being repeated. The world's history, in general, is a very bloody history. We had all better learn from the past, or we will face it again, in the future, I fear. Thank you for sharing that eye opening insight with us. Unreal the amount of scrap metal that was gathered by those on the home front!
-Richard Knip-