Bronze ship spike??? Help

[JC Florida]

I ran across this over the weekend. I'm guessing a bronze ship spike. Any thoughts from you experienced beach hunters?

 

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[Truth]

Looks very interesting wish I was a expert.

 

[okerraine]

I ran across this over the weekend. I'm guessing a bronze ship spike. Any thoughts from you experienced beach hunters?

My first impression it looks like Gold to me. Maybe it’s on my mind �� what did it sound like? High pitch or low?

 

[JC Florida]

It was a mid (sharp) signal. There was a fair amount of green and black oxidation/corrosion on it so the signal was a tad misleading.

 

[diverlynn]

Ask madforwrecks, he might know

 

[Goldfinger450]

Look for more to confirm spike.

 

[CASPER-2]

looks good - i'd be hitting that area harder - at least one more trip

 

[JC Florida]

Heading back Saturday to do a proper grid search. I didn't really know what it was until I cleaned it otherwise I would have searched the immediate area harder.
Something to look forward to.

 

[PhipsFolly]

Brass ships spike... 1800’s

 

[bradyboy]

just asking
shouldn't it have some indication of being hammered?
No flat end, and the tip is curved - IMO
need dimensions

 

[Tom_Restorer]

From looking at the round edges at the top and sides and the "chisel" shaped tip I would say it is a bronze bar and not a nail or spike.
I have seen similar bars from ancient cultures wich looks the same.
What sense would it made to cast ship spikes or nails with such round tops ?! Also chisel chaped tips causes more splitting of the wood.

 

[Tom_Restorer]

just asking
shouldn't it have some indication of being hammered?
No flat end, and the tip is curved - IMO
need dimensions

Good eye! But it is not hammered - you would definatly see some hammer marks on it and with hammering you didn´t get such round edges (also for what reason ?!).
This piece is casted.

 

[Tom_Restorer]

Seems you made a double posting with your request. On the other thread someone posted a picture with ship spikes and one or two has indeet chisel shaped tips. But all of them on the picture also has a head and sharp edges. I still think it is a bronze bar.

 

[islamoradamark]

i was snorkeling and saw what looked like an old piece of wood got my attention real fast swung my MD over it and it rang out loud i found some ship spikes in the wood with a square head about the same size i have also found some that were longer with a round head and they were loose nice find

 

[ivan salis]

the "hammered" head end might have broken off during the ship wreck because of force / stress placed upon it --it does indeed look like a 1800's era bronze spike to me

 

[PhipsFolly]

 

[PhipsFolly]

Top spike is brass 1800’s and bottom is bronze 1600’s... brass has that gold appearance and bronze has more of a pink color to it when conserved... and note chisel point on brass spike

 

[PhipsFolly]

Hope that helps...

 

[FISHEYE]

I have a bunch of bronze 1600 era spikes i pulled out of timbers i found at the cape that were exposed when one of the 2004 hurricanes washed away the dunes.A ranger there said i could take all the wood i can find off the beach.The timbers were too big.They were over 10 feet long and 3 feet thick.I did find part of a rudder post that has copper sheathing and nails on it that i brought back.It wasnt fun lugging a 80 pound piece of wood down the beach for several miles.Now i know how shipwreck survivors felt when the had to carry something heavy down the beach.

 

[Joe Lee]

This is what I found scuba diving a few years ago. Looks pretty similar.