This is very nice piece! It is an attractive Civil War 3 inch Hotchkiss patent cannon shell. This is the Hotchkiss that used the brass paper time style fuse at the top of the shell. This one has the zinc fuse holder present at the top. This shell was designed to explode when the paper time fuse, which burned down like a wick, caused the shell to explode. It is the pattern that has the flame grooves on the sides that were designed to help the flame from the cannon blast reach the fuse at the top. The base cup and sabot flew off of the shell when it was fired as you can see. This shell is in nice shape and any artillery collector would appreciate having it in their collection.