just out of electrolysis ..input please

[GatorBoy]

Alot of you may have seen this iron find I made recently ..I belive I posted it on PhipsFolly's thread about the "Nieva" pendant.
I found this at the same place that was referred to in that thread... the day after I found an olive jar rim a few yards away.
Let me apologize ahead of time for not having better photos and some scenic backdrop ... I'm literally finishing this up in my kitchen sink with a few gallons of distilled water.
It appears to be wrought iron.
One interesting thing is ..it is not broken squarely below the eye..but 90° from it.
Well.. here are before and after photos.
What's your thoughts?

 

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[dennco2000]

Interesting find but very vague artifact, could that lump be another piece of a chain link or the top of an anchor?

 

[GatorBoy]

I'm still pondering it myself.

 

[GatorBoy]

So far I'm thinking part of a dead eye assembly.. your right its vauge.











Could be twisted.

 

[ScubaFinder]

That is a strange one, almost looks like its been through a fire or something. For reference, here are two dead-eyes, one that is currently in conservation and one that I just finished. Both are wrought iron circa 1550. The metal on yours just doesn't look right to me, is it possible that there is still concretion on there that turned dark during conservation? Definitely not like anything I've seen before, and I don't think there is evidence that the Douglas Beach wreck had caught fire. It was a fairly common practice to burn wrecks to conceal their location from pirates so I guess anything is possible. Hmmmmm

Jason

 

[GatorBoy]

I could see metal on all of it except for a few pitted areas that had some shell left in them that basically melted during conservation.
The metal does look partially melted...and it sounds almost hollow on one side when tapped.
I'm open to any thoughts.
Mabey it's more modern.

 

[GatorBoy]

Is it just me..or is there a similarity in that one side of the eyelet is thicker on one side with mine..and apparently yours as well?
If this was a section up on shore or at least much more visible it almost seems probable that it would have been burnt at some point.
Just thinking out loud here but...I am on the shore not diving.

 

[Jason in Enid]

It would take one hell of a fire to melt iron! It take 2700 degrees to melt and you just dont get those kind of temps without special equipment. I'm at a loss, but I would guess a highly degraded link of anchor chain.

 

[GatorBoy]

Good point.
Just for the sake of being thorough ..what are the dimensions of that dead eye? Nothing to reference in the photo.

 

[Old Bookaroo]

GatorBoy:

When I was a lad I was beach combing in shallow water off an island in Lake Michigan and I looked down into the water and thought I'd found a skull!

The "eyes" of the deadeye each had a stone locked in. There was a long metal hasp from the bottom broken off.

It was a heck of a wind! I dragged it back through the water and took it back to our cottage. I still have it (you can bet on that!).

The Sch. Ostrich vanished off North Manitou in the same storm that took the Gilcher. Obviously, it was impossible to tell which vessel it had come from. Whatever ship lost it, she had a rough time in the process!

My cousin found several deadeyes wrapped in wire cable rather than the heavy iron (or steel, I suppose) around the wood. These are from a wreck that was built about 1850.

Good luck to all,

~The Old Bookaroo

 

[GatorBoy]

Well well.. thank you for that.
That is definitely something to look into.
Thank you for taking the time to share that.

 

[GatorBoy]

Iron strop recovered from the wreck of the USS Scorpion (1815)
That was burnt.

 

[AUVnav]

Take it to your local vet and have it xrayed. Probably cost you $25.

 

[GatorBoy]

My sister is a veterinarian.
I had the conglomerate x rayed Because for some reason It looked like a hilt and handguard to me at first.
It is what you're looking at.. there's nothing hiding in it.

 

[TimeWaster]

Looks like a really cool piece of rigging of some sort. From the pics, it almost looks like it was flattened to possibly fit snugly up against something? Do you think the heavy pitting was just from oxidation loss, or maybe it was made that crudely to begin with? Being thinner on one side may indicate where the cable/rope wore it down over time? It looks very old to me, but maybe salt water just destroys iron much faster than dirt does.

 

[GatorBoy]

The salt water is brutal on iron.
But that being said...the encrustation can help preserve things as well... just look at those 1550 examples...
Where I found this there is evidence of more than one wreck but nothing at all recent.
I'm no expert but the context and the artifact itself tells me it's rigging of some sort.
I wish it could talk.. For now I will just wait for some good beach erosion and hope to come up with more pieces of the puzzle.
(I could see "BootySalvage" from where I was.)

 

[TimeWaster]

Keep looking around for pics of old ships. I bet you come across some rigging that exactly matches that. I find 100 year old axes and hoes that I've posted pictures of; and they can still be used after a little electrolysis. But the pitting on that thing seems really deep! It may be from some Spanish Galleon, who knows!