🥇 BANNER Banner? Bannerstone yes :)

[scuba1970]

Have found many broken ones but was not expecting this. We've had a lot rain and went out to a site that I've found archaic thru hopewell items on one half and this was washed out in gravel. Wasn't where I would have expected either. Was in an area where an old house site sat. I usually metal detect that area and had walked over to it to see if any marbles or bottle tops had washed out. Glad I did, next rain may have washed it into ditch.

 

[Wyoming Valley Relics]

Okay, I clicked both links in post #33 and I'm only SORT of sure what I'm looking at here: is it the thing you slide the "arrow" through to "aim" it using some sort of "string/spring" mechanism attached to it?

I'm confused! And it's a big deal because... they all break? Unlike arrowheads?

Help a newbie to this, please, suppressing as much snark as possible if you can

does this help?

i equate this to "corking the bat" in baseball. now a days players use cork top material inside there bats to make them lighter and easier to swing, back in the day they would put lead in to make the bat heavier all in an attempt to get more force to hit more home runs . in theory the bannerstone was used as a counterweight to get more force to throw there spears.

 

[fyrffytr1]

Great find! I am envious!

 

[theviking]

WOW! killer find..Beautiful piece, congrats on a well deserved banner. Thanks for the view.

 

[Bass]

Very nice piece of history, glad to see it recovered . Congratulations on a most excellent find.

Sent from my iPhone using TreasureNet

 

[ANTIQUARIAN]

Congrats on your amazing find Scuba and for making the BANNER!!!

Dave

 

[MUD(S.W.A.T)]

Holy crap !!

Keep @ it and HH !!

 

[Charl]

If anything deserves a banner vote, that does. Don't soak it in anything! That's a very valuable piece and a rare find.

 

[Charl]

Okay, I clicked both links in post #33 and I'm only SORT of sure what I'm looking at here: is it the thing you slide the "arrow" through to "aim" it using some sort of "string/spring" mechanism attached to it?

I'm confused! And it's a big deal because... they all break? Unlike arrowheads?

Help a newbie to this, please, suppressing as much snark as possible if you can

Here you go; it's a weight to provide greater thrust when used with an atlatl.
DocBeav and Wyoming Valley Relics left great links, these photos may help convey the idea to you...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spear-thrower

http://basketmakeratlatl.com/?page_id=418

Awesome find.

 

[saltednuts]

try teak oil on a small spot see what it does I use it on deer antlers that have been bleached by sun it works great don't know if it will work or not but it brings bones back from the dead great find

 

[FriscoT06]

I don't know if I would on that piece, but I am a fan of coating things in mineral oil to keep that 'wet' look. I've heard it's a very stable oil and doesn't react with things generally. Something to look into. Congrats on the find of a few lifetimes!

 

[pickaway]

What an amazing find very nice real find, ppl ought to look at the real patina on that one and compare it to the so called real ones on the market. Congrats...

 

[scuba1970]

Thanks for all the thumbs up and making my banner a banner this is my first quartz piece I've ever found besides broken chunks of quartz so wondered about finish of it. I wish were shiny but know if was probably would have been broken which would be my luck. I wonder also if what farmer uses on field effects surface? Sure it does to some extent. I've metal detected coins from same area that are covered in hard deposits.. Mostly silver coins and the copper coins are almost all but destroyed

 

[trevmma]

Killer find

 

[trevmma]

Mineral oil can be cleaned off with hot water or after some time will go back to normal state , won't hurt anything but can make it pretty or uglier

 

[Deleted member 54237]

Very rare and beautiful. Don't apply anything ti it. Great patina.

Washed off. It has turned a nasty brown now that out of earth and drying out. Is there anything I can put on it or soak in to keep the nice golden look it had?

 

[Lanny in AB]

Many congratulations!!

Nicely done.

All the best,

Lanny

http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/metal-detecting-gold/69-bedrock-gold-mysteries.html

 

[MichiganMan]

Have found many broken ones but was not expecting this. We've had a lot rain and went out to a site that I've found archaic thru hopewell items on one half and this was washed out in gravel. Wasn't where I would have expected either. Was in an area where an old house site sat. I usually metal detect that area and had walked over to it to see if any marbles or bottle tops had washed out. Glad I did, next rain may have washed it into ditch.

A very interesting find. Which brings back a memory from around 1980 or so. I was 14 and walked down to a friend's farm down the road [from our farm] and had discovered that their house was built on or around an Indian campground. So off we went looking for arrowheads and buried Indian Treasure. My buddy found one similar to yours but only in that it was drilled. Otherwise the shape was a Stealth Bomber or flying wing. I should call him to see if he still has it as it would be good to compare lower Michigan artifacts with others found in the same "area". It was quite a large piece I remember thinking...

... come to think of it I remember being perplexed looking into the "drilled" hole [and seeing "threads"]. I couldn't reconcile in my mind today's technology/drill bits with the fantastical imaginations of the past of the Indians making stuff without that technology.