A few riverbank finds

[MarkDz]

Hi... After work yesterday I went detecting on the riverbank and found a rifle ball and a cool toy soldier. Any ideas on the age of the soldier?

I also found a lot of what appeared to be poison ivy... tried to be careful around it but I'm just waiting for the itching to start.

 

[Subterranean]

Great finds, congrats. Your two-dimensional soldier/doughboy appears to be from the period from the Span-Am War (1898-1902) to WW1 (1914-1918) based on the uniform. Most probably circa 1900. I could not find this particular soldier in my reference books, indicating it could be a lesser known manufacturer or just homemade from a kit. Happy hunting,
Sub

 

[MarkDz]

Cool... Thanks Sub! It does look like he's wearing a Span-Am type hat rather than a helmet.

 

[Jimmi]

This is the one I found. They are made of lead. They were a child's kit from sears believe it or not ... Kids would my down lead and put these in molds . Mine was found at my parents home , which was my great granparents home . My grandfather or his brother made the one I found.

 

[Jimmi]

The one I have isWWI

 

[Subterranean]

Great collection, Jimmi, and great history to go along with them! Sub

 

[Jimmi]

Great collection, Jimmi, and great history to go along with them! Sub

I just have the one in my hand tbe rest are pics from the net

 

[tcscivic12]

Nice finds.

 

[vpnavy]

Nice finds MarkDz!

 

[docbars]

Nice find

 

[L0STANDF0UND]

Yeah, I was gonna say about those soldiers; I know alot of them were made by kids. They used to sell kits that made it so people could forge their own. Saw one once where I had been working at an antique shop. The process seemed really dangerous,lol, molten lead and all...

 

[MarkDz]

Thanks for the replies! I guess it's really hard to date these things. I like it either way.
It seems like melting lead was pretty popular before people knew all the risks... though it's still fairly popular today. As I understand it, metals like pewter and tin are much safer.

 

[oldsalty19]