Iron Studded French Boules/Petanque Ball with Cross Pattern, c. 1880s faux eggs but there are many many

but there are many many many more

showing the backing as sewn together of pieces of what I believe is sack cloth

and some scratches and a few dark marks visible on one side

It will sit or kneel on its own in various positions

1 1/8” wide and deep

Iron Studded French Boules/Petanque Ball with Cross Pattern, c. 1880s faux eggs but there are many manyA beauty. I've found one or two of these over the years but it has been quite a while. It is a French petanque ball (petanque a version of boules), and is an early one, c. 1880s; they don't make iron studded ones like this anymore! From what I have learned about examples like this, the interior of the ball is likely olive wood, which was hand shaped and sanded, and then the square iron nails were hammered in one by one, with each nail hole precisely