1868 Shield Nickel Experiment

[steelheadwill]

Hi All,
Getting some interesting items,
First I dug a fully encrusted coin, (Same look and site as the early Cob)
it read as a silver, and measured 35 mm and 14.5 grams.
researching early silver, I was thinking a 32mm pre 1837 half dollar.
After some thought, I gave it the hot/cold treatment and cracked it open.
Blank copper, probably an old British Penny :P
Crust must have made the copper read off.
An interesting Item is the 1868 shield nickel Impression in lead.
I previously dug a 'finished' Seated Quarter replica in lead, with hand cut reeding,
but an impression with mirror image, was it children experimenting, or some stage of a serious counterfieting operation. have found a lead Draped Cent and Lead Penny
here also. and many different lead ingots in various sizes & shapes.
A pewter spoon bowl, no rattail, & Brass spoon bowl.
Nice all brass lock, Swan hood ornament, Anyone recognize this Maker
another 1820 Eagle & Cannon Artillery button,
A 'Rusty' 46 Rosie, a steel toy truck & Hubley Sureshot capgun,
a 24 mm brass blank
& various other stuff.
Thanks for looking & HH to everyone

 

[steelheadwill]

more pix, trigger guard part ??
and a brass dispenser of some sort

 

[creskol]

WoW .. Neat group of finds! Love the toy gun and truck! Reckon the swan is off of a Packard?

 

[VOL1266-X]

Nice finds Herbie and great assortment as usual. HH, Quindy.

 

[TN_MD]

Now that's a nice collection of Finds !! Congrats !!

 

[DMN]

The lead cast is a great find; makes you wonder what they were up to.
The brass tube almost reminds me of a lighter insert.

 

[JW15]

Wow, very interesting and cool finds Herbie! Keep up the great work!

 

[High Plains Digger]

Lead nickel is interesting. I assume the date is backwards, I couldn't see. A friend found one in Georgia at a battle site. Idle hands..................

The train thingy is pretty cool. Looks like a steam propelled 2 man "cart" or perhaps a work cart. Do you have any information on this type of thing? I am sure it is out there. Never seen a thing like that. I once found a fob from the precursor company of Catapiller with a steam propelled, tracked machine with a single wheel in the front. A little research showed that the steam and wheel ended in 1906.

 

[g-olden years]

The "dispenser" might be a flashlight: round hole for bulb, hinged flap at other end for changing batteries, rectangular hole on side for switch, bent metal near switch hole to clip onto belt. That's just my theory. My first two theories were funny: either an early Pez dispenser or early tampon dispenser, lol. The lead nickel impression is intriguing. I have no experience making fake coins or the stages involved in that, but some experience making jewelry through lost wax casting method. This could've been someone starting to make a wax coin cast, preliminary to following through with the other stages that would've resulted in the completed fake coin. hmm. Andi

 

[oldmaps]

Nice group of finds I really like the brass lock

HH

 

[mastereagle22]

Those finds are awesome. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Sniffy]

counterfeiting is so interesting to me....I would honestly much rather dig an old counterfeit over anything else....

 

[ANTIQUARIAN]

Hey buddy!

Great looking finds there Herbie!
I like the brass door lock and the padlock!

Love the look of that complete spoon!
Is it solid brass as well?

Have a great weekend man,
Dave

 

[CMDiamonddawg]

I think creskol nailed it ...Packard swan hood ornament , lost it's wings but still a winner ! It seems you have found evidence of a novice counterfeiting operation extremely interesting finds Herbie Best hunt , dawg

 

[Mr Tuff]

neat finds!!! MR TUFF

 

[steelheadwill]

Thanks Everyone! I appreciate the Packard ID
There was a lot of lead casting happening at this site, I imagine it was mainly for the mackeral jigs of which I've found hundreds, I learned that they were cast in heavy paper cones.
The coin impression certainly would work as part of a lost wax casting operation.
The completed Seated Quarter found was also a mirror image,
The lead 1801 Draped Cent weighed 18 grams if I remember, was a decent repro, but easily Id'ed as copy by its weight.
The George II HP has sprue around the edge and is also easily seen as a copy.
Experiments or throwaways ?
The large span of years between these copies is interesting, it must have spanned several generations, certainly an interesting site.
Hi Dave, Good to see you back
A lot of plated flatware has the copper alloy core, this one has a nice green patina.
(I think I would prefer black Silver though )
HH to everyone !

 

[dfx willy]

wow herbie! that lead shield \cast is cool bud. thats looks like it was a real fun hunt. willy