Trade Silver?

[Swartzie]

I found this piece on an Ohio site that has produced some finds from the 1700's. The site has 18th century military and native american history. It measures a little over a half inch long. Looks like silver, but will not signal past nickle on my detector. Low grade silver maybe? At first I was thinking maybe a small tinkler or ear bob. But now I'm thinking maybe just a small piece of rolled trade silver. Or maybe it's nothing at all. Any opinions?

-Swartzie

[ColonialDude]

Nice find. Most certainly trade silver. It's typical for thin trade silver to come up low on the detector (unless it's very large), usually somewhere between foil and pulltab range on my explorer.

[Swartzie]

Nice find. Most certainly trade silver. It's typical for thin trade silver to come up low on the detector (unless it's very large), usually somewhere between foil and pulltab range on my explorer.

Awesome! So do you think is it just a rolled piece of trade silver or is it an ornamental piece.
-Swartzie

[flintlock]

Like Colonialdude said, it most certainly is trade silver and a nice keeper! It could be nickel silver but anything rolled like that whether it be rolled silver, brass or even rolled buttons...to me it's there trade mark. They always seem to love rolling things. Agian...great find!

[Swartzie]

Why does the end look like it's crimped? Has anyone seen any examples of this on anything else?
-Swartzie

[dneyedli@res1.mts.net]

Rolled into a cone and crimped to hold onto cordage. Probably the same purpose as a jangler or tinkling cone.
Colonial Dude is right, thin cut silver gives a lower reading on the detector. Also the shape has a lot to do with it.
Ever notice how a silver ring gives a worse signal when it is split?
Cut trade silver usually reads as tin foil.
Nice find!
Cheers,
Dave.