Not sure if that's a hole near the top of the shell or not, but if it is, I would imagine any powder would be gone by now. So without powder or a fuse, not sure if that would be considered live, but I'm obviously no expert. Alas, it's now in the Boston bomb squad's hands. I cant say I've ever seen one of those before, and learned quite a bit reading up on the history of them. Thank you for sharing!