1st of 2015 - Nice Colonial/early hunt

[mangum]

Hello all. I got out to a few spots Thur-Fri last week & found a few neat relics. I was able to get back into my Rev War site after a long deer season so that was nice. I found a nice tombac with a design, piece to a colonial rein guide (Crusader IDed one I found a few weeks ago), a pocket knife or razor & a hand forged hinge. I also found a piece of a small crock that was dug out while recovering an item.

The rest of the finds came from a couple short hunts prospecting new sites.

I do have a few questions:

1. What period does the brass handled pocket knife/razor date to? Colonial?

2. What is the relic with the lead filled back?

3. Any idea on the large iron piece?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for looking & HH!

 

[mangum]

Very nice finds!
This first piece is very interesting!

The second piece pictured looks like a saddle mount.
Dave

The second piece is the top part of an 18thc rein guide.

 

[ANTIQUARIAN]

The second piece is the top part of an 18thc rein guide.

Hey that's interesting, I've never seen a reins guide decoration like that before.
Here's a pic of a saddle shield I found in October.

Thanks for the followup,
Dave

 

[CASPER-2]

 

[Bill D. (VA)]

Josh - when I first saw you piece with the spiral design I knew I had dug a number of them before. I scrounged up a few and took a couple of pics. I initially thought yours was a leather saddle adornment as the ones I'd dug had a post in the center instead of 2 attachment points like yours. But one of mine was just like yours, and I also found a couple of plain ones of the same construction. I guess that design was common during the late 1700s and was used on multiple applications. I do believe yours and the 2 plain ones of mine are reins guides, but the ones with the post are definitely not. I've been checking in many of my reference books as well as online, and for some reason can't find any of these which is strange since they were very common (I know I have several others hidden away in boxes). If someone could point to a definitive reference source it would be appreciated.

 

[mangum]

Josh - when I first saw you piece with the spiral design I knew I had dug a number of them before. I scrounged up a few and took a couple of pics. I initially thought yours was a leather saddle adornment as the ones I'd dug had a post in the center instead of 2 attachment points like yours. But one of mine was just like yours, and I also found a couple of plain ones of the same construction. I guess that design was common during the late 1700s and was used on multiple applications. I do believe yours and the 2 plain ones of mine are reins guides, but the ones with the post are definitely not. I've been checking in many of my reference books as well as online, and for some reason can't find any of these which is strange since they were very common (I know I have several others hidden away in boxes). If someone could point to a definitive reference source it would be appreciated.

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That's awesome Bill, thanks for sharing! I have found 2 in the past month or so. It is surprising that they aren't in the books as common as they are. I looked online as well & couldn't find any relevant information although I fully trusted Crusader's ID. I'll bet they were sold as a set judging by your finds. What do you think?