Brass Boat Nail - looking for some information

[Vintagehunter]

Hi Guys,

I was given this item by a friend living in the south of France. He and some friends had found it among some "well-organized" piles of stones on a dive not far offshore in the Mediterranean. He said some of the nails were in rotting wood, others were under some debris at the bottom.

It has some ridges or rivets carved into it.

He had several of these nails, the colours varied from dark brown to green.

I took it to my LDS and the guy there confirmed it is bronze and most likely from a wooden ship. And it is cool.

I was hoping someone here could tell me a bit more, perhaps a rough estimate of age and type of ship.

Any information, even speculation, would be helpful.

thanks

 

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[Goldminer]

"well organized piles of stones" suggest an intact ballast mound from an old wooden shipwreck. If the stones were oval or rounded, it could have been Spanish river granite. Need to know more info.

 

[ARC]

Roman bronze "Crucifixion spike" dating from the 1st-2nd century AD...
Should measure roughly 4 inches long.
Ancient Resource: Ancient Roman "Crucifixion Spikes" For Sale

 

[Vintagehunter]

Hi Goldminer and ARRC - thanks a lot for the information.

I will reach out to my friend - I seem to remember him telling me they were smooth stones but I'll ask for more details and pictures of the other nails.
ARRC - thanks for the link - it really resembles the nails. It's a little hard to measure since the nail is warped. I'll look at the pictures.

Thanks again guys - this is a lot better than my speculation.

cheers