Late 1700s fabric found in thimble?

[DetectorMoe]

Well, went back to the site where I found the USA Rev button yesterday, well this afternoon for a few hours.. Only found two flat buttons but, I did find something unique, I think its a big thimble and it was filled with dirt, when I got the dirt out by shaking it, piece of fabric came out, it was balled up inside at the tip. This homesite dates late 1700s to early 1800s. Could the fabric be that old?




Close up, both sides.

 

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[coinman123]

Definitely a banner worthy find in my opinion! I have some buttons with some thread still in it, but nothing that even comes close to something like this. Truly an amazing find!!!

 

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[Cal_Cobra]

Very cool, appears to have a whimsical Tree of Life design on it

 

[Dennis1209]

Metal detection expert Gary Drayton eat your heart out Cool find.

 

[sataro]

Congrats on a very nice find!

 

[DetectorMoe]

There is a little hole I forgot to show and mention thats on the thimble thingy.

 

[Steve in PA]

There is a little hole I forgot to show and mention thats on the thimble thingy.

View attachment 1693487 View attachment 1693488 View attachment 1693489

Whatever it is, it had a set screw that that most likely screwed into a wooden dowel. It definitely was not intended to be a thimble originally, but that's not to say it wasn't re-purposed as one.

 

[arrow86]

I like the wadding and powder cap theory , in any case nice find

 

[Ammoman]

very cool find! I don't want to be the one to bust the bubble here but here are my thoughts.

My guess on the age of the fabric would be the early 1900's or later.

The reason is you have feed sack material and the food container transition from barrels to feed sacks happened from the 1840's to 1890.
During that time, only manufactures logos were printed on the feed sacks and those prints were limited to one area of the feed sack. A legacy that came from manufacturers having to fit their logo on the tops of barrels.

Another clue is... the pattern is repeatable.
Repeat patterns on feed-sacks became popular just before the great depression when manufactures realized that women were using the sacks to make clothing. Most patterns were tight prints with small flowers and such.
It was a great way to market the product.

I will add this...The pattern is very far apart making it possible that what i am seeing is a repeat of the manufacturers label. If it is part of a label then i would put the fabric into the 1840's to 1890 range assuming it is cotton.

 

[GopherDaGold]

Possibly part of a sampler that was inserted into the thimble so it could fit onto the tiny finger of a schoolgirl.

 

[JerV3]

That's a really cool find.

Yeah that looks period to me. I'm no expert but I'd say it's 200 years old or close to it.

Jer

 

[Kype]

That's amazing. Great find. Also amazing how long that clothe has lasted. Looks to be in good shape too

 

[ARC]

Ya know... I saw this thread pop up a few times and I cant help but think how cool this is...

saw it again today and decided to click and take another look... then it dawned on me... this IMO is not cotton.

I THINK... repeat THINK... this MAY ... be................................................ .........................................

Hemp.

Cotton would have been LONG gone to tatters.

PS... This piece of cloth really is a "glimpse" into the past... and actually... I also think...

This is...

A BANNER find.

 

[BLK HOLE]

That is super unique! I have seen Civil War buttons come out of the ground with cloth still attached so it is reasonable that some cloth could survive in a thimble.