Civil War Silver - and brass, and lead with a couple of oddities . . .

[parsonwalker]

Second half-dime from this site in 2014.





Straight shank Eagle cuff, but the face is in really rough shape.



Melted lead is usually not very exciting, but I loved this piece. Wonder if they were making it, and it messed up, or did he just toss a good one in the fire?



Pulled .36 cal pistol bullet . . .



And this is weird, I think. This is lead, wrapped around some iron. Only thing I can think of, is that a bullet HIT something iron and it stayed together all these years . . .



The balance is a cap, 6 dropped 3-ringers, a .44 round ball, and a round ball measuring .52 cal. What the heck? Oh and some melted lead and 3 thin brass somethings, with tiny pins. Maybe pocket knife parts?

 

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[VOL1266-X]

Nice coin PW and other relics as well. One day before long, these eagle buttons will be gone due to fertilizer and ground action. HH, Q.

 

[parsonwalker]

No doubt Quindy. I found a NY coat button about 30' in the woods (at this camp) that looked like it just dropped off the coat. Gilt all over the place. But 50 feet away in the field, they are barely recognizable as NY buttons. Fertilizer is HARD on relics. (Not to mention plows)

I'm hardcore CW relic guy not into coins - but if I find a coin in a camp or battlefield that dates to the right time . . . I get pretty excited.

Any alternative theories on the lead + iron find?

 

[VOL1266-X]

No doubt Quindy. I found a NY coat button about 30' in the woods (at this camp) that looked like it just dropped off the coat. Gilt all over the place. But 50 feet away in the field, they are barely recognizable as NY buttons. Fertilizer is HARD on relics. (Not to mention plows)

I'm hardcore CW relic guy not into coins - but if I find a coin in a camp or battlefield that dates to the right time . . . I get pretty excited.

Any alternative theories on the lead + iron find?

I have found many lead encased pieces. Most were mainly iron square nails coated with lead from campfires. Who really knows? They spent a lot of time around campfires. Maybe a soldier stuck a square nail into the base of a bullet and pitched it into the fire or pitched a small piece of iron into a campfire and it landed on a bullet and the bullet melted around it. Your theory is viable as well. HH, Q.

 

[park pirate]

That seated is in outstanding condition..

 

[treblehunter]

Pretty stuff, thanks for sharing, nice saves!

 

[CoilyGirl]

I like it all! Your coin is in great shape.

 

[parsonwalker]

[/B][/SIZE][/COLOR]I have found many lead encased pieces. Most were mainly iron square nails coated with lead from campfires. Who really knows? They spent a lot of time around campfires. Maybe a soldier stuck a square nail into the base of a bullet and pitched it into the fire or pitched a small piece of iron into a campfire and it landed on a bullet and the bullet melted around it. Your theory is viable as well. HH, Q.

I never thought of that (Even with all the melted lead in my career)! Mine is dramatic and exciting. Yours makes a lot more sense!

 

[I-DIG-IT]

Nice digs.

 

[SilverDreams]

Awesome relics and silver find!

 

[Old Dude]

Great shots of the silver in the dirt. You find some great CW relics and like you said, finding a coin of the time can make the mind imagine some pretty good little scenarios.

 

[VOL1266-X]

You never know about camp lead PW. Look at what I first thought was just camp lead. I clean every piece of camp lead & I thought "that's a dog". It was verified a soldier's art by a local relic dealer & veteran digger. He showed me where the Unionsoldier worked the warm lead into the figure. HH, Q.

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Under his photo of a NON-FIRED civil war .58-caliber rifle bullet which is partially melted, Parsonwalker wrote:
> Melted lead is usually not very exciting, but I loved this piece. Wonder if they were making it,
> and it messed up, or did he just toss a good one in the fire?

Rifle/musket bullets were not made (cast) by civil war soldiers. They received their rifle/musket ammunition as a complete cartridge (bullet with gunpowder in a paper or metal casing) from the army's Ordnance-supplying personnel.

So, the other half of your guess, "just toss[ed] a good one in the fire" is the correct answer about how your unfired rifle bullet got partly melted.

Because we civil war relic diggers often find partly-melted unfired bullets like yours in civil war military campsites, we wonder why a soldier would toss a perfectly good unused lead bullet into a fire.

Here's the answer:
Civil war soldiers serving "in the field" often had to build their campfires (for cooking and for warmth) when all of the available wood in the area was soaking wet from recent rainfall. They didn't have newspapers handy to use as a firestarter. But the soldiers did have an excellent firestarter handy... the gunpowder in their bullet-cartridges. So they would take some cartridges apart and use the gunpowder (and paper-cartridge) to get the wet-wood campfire started. But that makes the lead bullets useless, because the soldiers were not allowed to go to the Ordnance-supply sergeant and say "Please give us some gunpowder and cartridge-paper so we can make replacement cartridges for these leftover lead bullets." So, the unused lead bullets got discarded -- sometimes by being tossed into the campfire, so the soldier could watch the bullet melt. We know this information is true because some civil war soldiers wrote about that method of firestarting..

Sidenote:
Please note that in the info above I said "rifle/musket" bullets. The army would only supply ammunition for the firearms it had supplied to the soldiers. Some soldiers (in particular, wealthy officers) brought their own pistol with them when they enlisted. Therefore, they had to provide their own ammunition for it. That is why we do find pistol bulletmolds and "field-cast" pistol bullets in civil war military campsites. But we very nearly never find any RIFLE bulletmolds.

 

[parsonwalker]

Very well reasoned CBGuy! I never thought about how I have never even SEEN a dug .58 cal minie ball mold. Very cool to read this explanation. If you read this post, I have a question: Sometimes we find an unfired .58 cal 3 ringer with a "seam" that goes up one side, over the nose and back down the other side. I have heard old-time hunters refer to these as "salvaged lead" bullets. Presumably cast in camp. Your reasoning would preclude that, and I have no issue with that at all. I'm just wondering what the story is on those "seamed" bullets. Are they just cast marks from mass production?

Quindy - very cool trench art. never seen a dog before. I have a couple of carved-bullet chess pieces and "random" carvings, but not many! I too, clean every piece of camp lead - seen a lot with P-caps mixed in, but this was my first piece of iron. BTW: Are those carved bullets above your dog, or Shallers?

Thanks Park Pirate, Old Dude, and everybody else. This is an 1862 short term camp, so the coin was probably in circulation for less than a year.

 

[VOL1266-X]

Very well reasoned CBGuy! I never thought about how I have never even SEEN a dug .58 cal minie ball mold. Very cool to read this explanation. If you read this post, I have a question: Sometimes we find an unfired .58 cal 3 ringer with a "seam" that goes up one side, over the nose and back down the other side. I have heard old-time hunters refer to these as "salvaged lead" bullets. Presumably cast in camp. Your reasoning would preclude that, and I have no issue with that at all. I'm just wondering what the story is on those "seamed" bullets. Are they just cast marks from mass production?

Quindy - very cool trench art. never seen a dog before. I have a couple of carved-bullet chess pieces and "random" carvings, but not many! I too, clean every piece of camp lead - seen a lot with P-caps mixed in, but this was my first piece of iron. BTW: Are those carved bullets above your dog, or Shallers?

Thanks Park Pirate, Old Dude, and everybody else. This is an 1862 short term camp, so the coin was probably in circulation for less than a year.

All are carved and found by me. BTW, Cannonball Guy is the best CW resource on the internet. He has taught me a lot. HH, Q.

 

[collector01]

Nice lead and silver!! HH!

 

[parsonwalker]

All are carved and found by me. BTW, Cannonball Guy is the best CW resource on the internet. He has taught me a lot. HH, Q.

Yes - Pete and I knew some of the same old school hunters from back in the day. He is HARD to beat. Nice carved lead there, Q. I especially like those .69s!

 

[Mr Tuff]

nice finds