Chinese pendant found in Gold Camp

[Relichunter1]

Took out the ole Whites MXT today and visited a small 1850's Chinese gold camp. It was littered with ferrous trash so I changed my coil to a small 5.3 Bullseye round. I have to say this is one of my favorite coils in trashy areas. I set the detector to relic 2-tone and just cherry picked the non-ferrous. My first target was a Chinese coin, but the next target was unusual looks like a pendant of some sorts. It has a Chinese Character on it and the material appears to be brass or copper. If anyone has any information of the meaning of the character let me know. Thanks!

 

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[Colonial Digger]

Pretty awesome find!

 

[caprock]

Pretty sure that is a weight from a Chinese scale
Very Cool find!

 

[Digger RJ]

Nice!!! Congrats!!!

 

[Discrimination Dave]

Scale weight for sure!

inscription appears to be 一本.
(ippon in the Japanese language)

I means ONE.

 

[CRUSADER]

Scale weight for sure!

inscription appears to be 一本.
(ippon in the Japanese language)

I means ONE.

Interesting Bullion Weight, similar to our ONE Penny Weight system....

 

[xcopperstax]

Very cool find and looks pretty old!

 

[Relichunter1]

Caprock, looks exactly like a scale weight..thanks for the info...appreciate the know,edge on this forum.

 

[Relichunter1]

Discrimination Dave, thanks for the character identification ..appreciate it. the mystery is solved.

 

[E-Trac-Ohio]

A nice real piece of history there - congrats !

 

[Yang Hao]

well if it was actually used as a weight piece it's missing some small parts (look at the holes). I wouldn't want to be the prospector who found the gold only to be cheated by a small amount because of the holes in the weight. small as they are that is a LOT of gold to be not counted for. I'd guess it was a tag after the fact and not used to determine weight. Unless that flaw was hidden then after time and the elements it's now exposed. If so many prospectors at that time may have been cheated of their find. it's still a great discovery.

 

[A2coins]

Great point , Thats a cool looking find you got.

 

[Relichunter1]

Put the weight on scale and it weighs in at 7.15 grams or or 28.6 grams avoirdupis. Perhaps an opium scale....as its not troy ounce weight unless you calculate by adding 9.7% to determine troy ounces 31.1 grams per ounces rather than 28.3 grams per ounce avoirdupis.

 

[Ed144]

That is a nice bit of history found. It is a great time to get out right now since most people are staying inside.

 

[Professor of Engineering]

Very nice personal item, congrats!