Civil war shoulder scale

[BobinSouthVA]

took a day off today to take a Coastie buddy of mine out to one of my favorite sites before he gets shipped overseas next week for a year. He admitted that he had been in a CW relic drought for 2 years and today was the remedy. After a slow start to the morning I found this awesome shoulder scale, more about that later. after lunch, and about 30 feet away, my friend found another shoulder scale in a couple of pieces. He was able to pull 2 three ringers and a great pre 1900 Church Co Soda token which later became Arm and Hammer.

Anyway the shoulder scale I found is pretty interesting. It has the top and bottom piece along with two of the scales. It was separated when I pulled it out of the hole, but the pieces came out togeather. when I lifted the top off the two scales were inside similar to the picture below. The way I see it the scales lay on top and would not have fallen inside of the thing.

did these things have spare scales inside for replacement? the only other thing I can imagine is it was broken and someone slid the scales inside.

Thanks for looking and HH.

 

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[{Sentinel}]

Congrats on the Shoulder Scale Bob! They don't pop up all the time but are a very welcome sight when they do!

 

[spitfire55]

 

[LukeTHr]

so thats what they are supposed to look like !!! the only one I have found so far has been mangled by years of being plowed in a wheat field. actually I knew what they are supposed to look like, but I haven't had the good fortune to find one intact yet. nice find

 

[Woodland Detectors]

Like Josh said, those are always a welcome sight. Nice save Bob!

 

[romeo-1]

That's a cool find!

 

[DMN]

Wow.......... That is some find. Do the number of scales help in IDing the rank or were they all the same? I guess I would defer to replacements if not.

 

[mastereagle22]

Man you guys in VA sure find the good stuff. That is a find I would gladly put in a display case and show off.

 

[civilman1]

Nice dig Bob!! The NCO's scale's had the extra pan on the bottom like your's and were slightly narrower in width from the Enlisted men's.I really don't think they had extra scale's

 

[DMN]

Although you probably have more info on this item than I could ever get, here is a cool link to describe the shoulder scale for the enlisted men, which appears to be what you have.
http://howardlanham.tripod.com/linkgr4/link190.html

 

[Clay Slayer]

Is a shoulder scale kind of like an epaulette and worn in the same fashion?

 

[mastereagle22]

Click on the link above and it shows you what they were.....

 

[MaineRelic]

Nice save Bob ! You don't see very many of those posted ! That one is in great shape

 

[BobinSouthVA]

Congrats on the Shoulder Scale Bob! They don't pop up all the time but are a very welcome sight when they do!

Thanks Sentinel. It made the trip and the three ticks I pulled off today worth it.

thanks spitfire

so thats what they are supposed to look like !!! the only one I have found so far has been mangled by years of being plowed in a wheat field. actually I knew what they are supposed to look like, but I haven't had the good fortune to find one intact yet. nice find

Thanks LukeTHr I've only found a bit of one other one up to this point.

Like Josh said, those are always a welcome sight. Nice save Bob!

Thanks

That's a cool find!

Thanks Romeo

 

[BobinSouthVA]

Nice dig Bob!! The NCO's scale's had the extra pan on the bottom like your's and were slightly narrower in width from the Enlisted men's.I really don't think they had extra scale's

Thanks Civilman. It's strange that the scales were between the bottom pan and the top part. I guess it must have broken or fallen off and the scales were slipped inside.

 

[BobinSouthVA]

Man you guys in VA sure find the good stuff. That is a find I would gladly put in a display case and show off.

Thanks Mastereagle22, you sure are right, there is so much great history here to find.

 

[BobinSouthVA]

Although you probably have more info on this item than I could ever get, here is a cool link to describe the shoulder scale for the enlisted men, which appears to be what you have.
http://howardlanham.tripod.com/linkgr4/link190.html

Thanks for the link DMN.

 

[BobinSouthVA]

Nice save Bob ! You don't see very many of those posted ! That one is in great shape

Thanks MaineRelic, Yeah this one is in great shape. The one my buddy found was not so lucky.

Now I need to get back there and hit the area between the two pretty hard. Maybe I can find the rest of the scales