Civil War Relics & 1860 Fatty!

[mangum]

Hello all! I went on a 4 day trip to West Va that ended in Va. The pickings were slim & the multiple new properties we searched didn't pan out. You never know until you look! We searched a few hard hit sites & I was able to pull some keepers from the ground. The last day I got to use a GPX that I'm borrowing for DIV & I really started getting the hang of it. It's a beast in that hot soil! Any help on the mystery item would be appreciated. It was a fun vacation with some good friends & we all saved a little history. Thanks for looking & HH!

 

[jwarner51]

Wow great finds! Looks like it was a fun trip!

 

[Ia.FurTrade]

Nice finds! Your "whatsit" is part of the innards of a door lock.................

 

[mr helton]

Wow that's incredible! Thanks for posting the pic of the musket sling hook in use, it's really cool to see exactly how the CW relics posted here were actually used!

 

[mangum]

Wow that's incredible! Thanks for posting the pic of the musket sling hook in use, it's really cool to see exactly how the CW relics posted here were actually used!

indeed, it's great to get a visual of the relics in use.

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Sorry, but I have to speak up about a misidentification, because it got a compliment. The final photo in Mangum's post does not show a musket/rifle's sling-adjuster hook. That photo shows the hook on a US Model-1851 swordbelt's over-the-shoulder strap. I'm 100% sure, because I've posted that same photo several times in past years here on TreasureNet. I've even got that photo's "mate" -- which I'll show at the end of this post. Note that both photos show the swordbelt being worn on a mannequin's Confederate-grey jacket. I snagged both of those photos from an Ebay auction back in February 2008 -- ONLY for non-profit Educational use.

How to a sling-hook from a swordbelt-strap's hook:
As those photos show when compared to the sling-hook dug by Mangum, the swordbelt shoulder-strap hook's body is somewhat thicker than a civil war musket/rifle sling-adjuster hook's body... and the swordbelt strap hook's tongue is more pointed than the sling-hook's tongue.
CAUTION-NOTE: A civil war swordbelt's "main" adjuster-hook looks similar a sling-hook and shoulderstrap-hook... but those hooks have two rivets and the swordbelt's "main" hook has three rivets. I'll include photos of that hook, on an Original civil war swordbelt, so you can see the three rivets, which are always in a triangular pattern.

Because Mr. Helton expressed interest in seeing a civil war musket/rifle sling's hook on the leather sling, here's a photo showing a civil war Springfield Rifle's sling, with its brass adjuster-hook on it... but this one is a reproduction, because Original ones with the hook still present are of course extremely rare.

 

[BuckleBoy]

Nice finds! Your "whatsit" is part of the innards of a door lock.................

Absolutely correct.

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Ia.FurTrade and BuckleBoy are absolutely correct... your "whatzit" is from the innards of an antique door-latch, called a Mortise-Latch. The doorhandle's square shaft fit into your whatzit, and when turned, it activated the latch mechanism. You can easily spot your brass component in the photo showing an early-1900s Mortise-Latch's inner components, below.

 

[mangum]

Sorry, but I have to speak up about a misidentification, because it got a compliment. The final photo in Mangum's post does not show a musket/rifle's sling-adjuster hook. That photo shows the hook on a US Model-1851 swordbelt's over-the-shoulder strap. I'm 100% sure, because I've posted that same photo several times in past years here on TreasureNet. I've even got that photo's "mate" -- which I'll show at the end of this post. Note that both photos show the swordbelt being worn on a mannequin's Confederate-grey jacket. I snagged both of those photos from an Ebay auction back in February 2008 -- ONLY for non-profit Educational use. How to a sling-hook from a swordbelt-strap's hook: As those photos show when compared to the sling-hook dug by Mangum, the swordbelt shoulder-strap hook's body is somewhat thicker than a civil war musket/rifle sling-adjuster hook's body... and the swordbelt strap hook's tongue is more pointed than the sling-hook's tongue. CAUTION-NOTE: A civil war swordbelt's "main" adjuster-hook looks similar a sling-hook and shoulderstrap-hook... but those hooks have two rivets and the swordbelt's "main" hook has three rivets. I'll include photos of that hook, on an Original civil war swordbelt, so you can see the three rivets, which are always in a triangular pattern. Because Mr. Helton expressed interest in seeing a civil war musket/rifle sling's hook on the leather sling, here's a photo showing a civil war Springfield Rifle's sling, with its brass adjuster-hook on it... but this one is a reproduction, because Original ones with the hook still present are of course extremely rare.

Thanks for the info & clarification on the photo. I'm always learning so I appreciate the input!

 

[mangum]

Ia.FurTrade and BuckleBoy are absolutely correct... your "whatzit" is from the innards of an antique door-latch, called a Mortise-Latch. The doorhandle's square shaft fit into your whatzit, and when turned, it activated the latch mechanism. You can easily spot your brass component in the photo showing an early-1900s Mortise-Latch's inner components, below.

That's definitely what it is! The knowledge on this site is invaluable!

 

[Carolina Tom]

Nice finds Josh. Congrats.

 

[mangum]

Nice finds Josh. Congrats.

Thanks bud! Are you still getting out & finding silver with Steve?

 

[Ahab8]

Cool finds buddy! It's not easy eeking out some finds in areas that are hard to hunt or have been hunted hard. But the knowledge that there's still lots of great finds hiding in the ground keeps us going back out. I've been researching a lot and hopefully have come up with some decent new spots. Good luck out there bud