I found this iron rusty ring shape at a colonial camp in Pa. I am wondering if this was something you would wear back then or was it from a rifle barrel??
1 1/8" OD x 13/16" ID
I see a sharp point in one photo. I used to make kids horseshoe nail rings when I shod their horse, and it might be a ring made from a horse shoe nail.
I never measured a horseshoe nail, they come in lots of sizes and styles of heads. Just off hand 3" seems about right, you want it coming out of the hoof wall a couple of inches up. Now you have me wondering, in the next day or so I'll have to measure one and let you know.
I measured a couple of nails. I can't tell you the size, but one would either be a #5 or a #6, used on light horses, ie: saddle horses, and they are 2 1/2". The only other size I have is heavier shanked larger nail that would be used on a work horse, and I have no idea of the size, but it's 2 3/4" long. I've been retired for a long time and the size on the box the ink has faded off. I would expect that there are nails in the three inch range, but I also suspect the ring isn't made from a horse shoe nail, which in Colonial times would have been hand forged and not a uniform stamped out size, but made by the black smith just for that foot.