BRASS KNUCKLES?

[Massieville Mike]

Looking in the neighbors yard this evening.....Found a handful of clad, some matchbox cars, and some junk. It had just got dark, and the skeeters were starting to get bad, so I headed back to my house, swinging as I went. Right at the back edge of thier property I gotta a hit. 10-12 inches down, I found what looks like brass knuckles. As you can see from the pics, they are not brass though. They are really heavy. I believe they are lead. First pic is as dug, the rest of the pics show this item after being washed off. It has the white patina, just like the bullets and other lead stuff I have found in the past does. If they are in fact "brass knuckles", they sure do appear to me to have been "homemade" out of sheets of lead crudely cut out and bolted, screwed, or riveted together. Maybe this item is not a pair of "brass knuckles". I really ain't got a clue what else it would be though. Anyone know?

 

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[BuckleBoy]

Yes. They are lead knuckles. Popular around the Civil war and early 20th c. My only concern is the rust where there were iron attachments, and nail holes in them. Normally these items were field cast and would've had no need for an attachment of any sort.

 

[BuckleBoy]

https://www.google.com/search?q=lea...XooASk24LQAw&ved=0CAgQ_AUoAg&biw=1600&bih=775

 

[Massieville Mike]

Thanks BuckleBoy! Cool link as well!

 

[NOLA_Ken]

Like BockleBoy said they were usually cast, but these are interesting to me because I think what happened here is someone didn't have the ability to cast them so he cut out three pieces from a sheet of lead and riveted them together. Really cool find, I don't think I've ever seen any made that way