Spectacles with Lens from 1600s Site

[Wampum]

I am not sure the age of these spectacles since I question the possibility of them dating to the early 1600s like the site that they were located on. I found them about 10 steps in on the edge of my contact era fur trade Native American site in the finger lakes region. To my knowledge there is no colonial or later site nearby for at least 500 yards. I decided to turn on the Deus and start about 50 yards earlier rather than wait till I got to the top of the hill like usual. As I was digging my first signal I noticed some glass shards at about 5 inches and I figured "great more junk for me to pick up and work around". Soon I found an intact optical lens which I didn't realize at the time and at first thought that it was just a piece of odd glass with the corners mitered. I wonder if it is optical quartz not glass because there are no scratches. Then after moving some of the loose dirt I found the spectacles sitting in the hole just as if they were placed there. I took them out shocked and placed them back without cleaning for the in-situ. The root kept the digging tool from destroying them thankfully. What I wonder is the age and metal composition. They feel weighty for their size and read 36 to 50 on the Deus. I'm not 100% sure what they read in the ground because I dig every signal without paying attention but I vaguely remember them being in the 30's which to me says gold. For being in the ground there is no tarnish or flaking of plated metal of any type and there are no makers mark to speak of. Could that mean that they are just pretty early, possibly before the standards of stamping precious metals for the country of origin? The other typical for the site items I found were pottery shards, a nice late woodland point and and iron whatsit in addition to what I'm told is a ramrod guide for an early musket. If so I am surprised because that site is early for Native Americans to have firearms (so I read) but it does make me think that those 50 cal musket balls I found a couple weeks back are period to the site. Check out the difference in color between the spectacles and brass ramrod tube from the same site. Take note of the picture with the Deus air test on the spectacles at about 2-3 inches.

 

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[GB1]

dude that is sweet

 

[trapperart]

Congrats on your find

 

[sutphin]

SWEET FINDS FOR THE EYE>

 

[Professor of Engineering]

Congratualtions on the fantastic find!

 

[coinman123]

Check for the other lens next time! Awesome find! How old would you say those spectacles are?

 

[Silvermonkey]

Wow! What a unique find. Congratulations.

 

[texjim]

Love em. Nice job

 

[scruggs]

That's amazing! Good job!

 

[Wampum]

Coinman

Unfortunately the other lens was found fragmented in the hole. Hopefully not by me...

I have been doing some research since posting and it seems like they may range from 1820s to 1880s which is odd based on the location of the site. All of my finds on this site are early 1600s, now I have a mid 1800s find, one random dog tax tag probably lost while bird hunting in 1917 and a dime from 1986. A lot of range but only 3 items here didn't fall in the early 1600s timeframe.

 

[Mzjavert]

Man that was a huge loss. Thumbs up on recovering them nearly intact.

 

[Underwonder]

Now THAT'S some eye candy!

 

[CRUSADER]

Coinman

Unfortunately the other lens was found fragmented in the hole. Hopefully not by me...

I have been doing some research since posting and it seems like they may range from 1820s to 1880s which is odd based on the location of the site. All of my finds on this site are early 1600s, now I have a mid 1800s find, one random dog tax tag probably lost while bird hunting in 1917 and a dime from 1986. A lot of range but only 3 items here didn't fall in the early 1600s timeframe.

I agree, late 19th C.
This is another case of date & ID the object first then make conclusions.

 

[Wampum]

Crusader

Lol yeah the relative dating method did not work in this case.

 

[CASPER-2]

 

[CRUSADER]

Crusader

Lol yeah the relative dating method did not work in this case.

Its nice to get it so complete, I've only seen these in a collection of a friend who I did some work for.

 

[Minrelica]

They look very similar to these which are dated 1835-1880



Guide to Assist in the Identification of Antique Spectacles

 

[IMAUDIGGER]

I would go back and sift the dirt in the area surrounding the place you found the glasses and recover all of the pieces of glass.
It would look pretty cool with most all of the pieces super glued back together in the frame.

I think glasses were fairly valuable in the older days. I have found pieces of a pair associated with a buried cache.

 

[Diggin Dude]

Wow that's awesome!! Great recovery!! Congrats and HH

 

[Wampum]

I would go back and sift the dirt in the area surrounding the place you found the glasses and recover all of the pieces of glass.
It would look pretty cool with most all of the pieces super glued back together in the frame.

I think glasses were fairly valuable in the older days. I have found pieces of a pair associated with a buried cache.

I agree and was thinking about finding the pieces. It is interesting that you say that about a cache because when I showed them to a local historian he told me that a young girl (decades ago) found a box/chest full of 1700s coins several hundred yards away near some digging being done by some over houses.