Colonial diamonds?? and other colonial finds!!! need help....

[X-Splenda]

i have found it today... it was 12 inches deep at a old homestead site. i have found other artifacts that i will show... these first pics it may be a diamond jewlery it has flowers and a very shiny stone.. i did a scratch test.. it did not seem to scratch. with a metal pin. but it's not gold. it is bronze or pewter. is it valuable?

Also found a thimble..... it has a date 1722 in small letters and a persons name on it...

and also a bronze buckle with a cool design... whats it worth??

 

[traderoftreasures]

welcome to the t'net. those are pretty shiny stones.

 

[BuckleBoy]

The last find is Certainly a colonial era buckle. The thimble...well...if it is dated, then there ya go.

The top item I would've thought was a bit later, but if the only things on the site were 1700s time frame then that's probably the same time frame too.

I would imagine that the jewels are paste.



Great stuff!



-Buckles

 

[allen_idaho]

The brooch looks like it is brass or bronze. You should probably take the stones in to a jeweler and have them test one. Take a sharp knife and try to rough it up a bit. If it stays smooth and clear, most likely diamond.

Or, if you're feeling brave, pop one out and smack it with a hammer. If it breaks, not a diamond. However, I wouldn't really recommend this method.

 

[CRUSADER]

Welcome to tnet from the UK

IMO - The first item is custume jewelry & most likely paste or glass stones. Not worth very much (as you seem to be interested)

The second is puzzelling to me I find many thimbles like that one & thought them to be of a later date than 1722 (can you check again & give the name of the person as well?, Also is it hand carved/incised?) This will help & if the date is correct will be of interest to the Thimble collectors (which there are many around the world). So will have a value, not great but good for a bulk standard non-silver thimble that would normally be unmarked & rarely dated.

The third as already mention is a circa 1760s Shoe Buckle, nice to have the centre iron pin (which needs treating to save it flaking). Also might make you $25 or more to the right collector.

 

[Don in SJ]

Agree on the first piece most likely being costume type jewelry, but that is just a wag on my part . Nice Shoe buckle, intact frame so feel fortunate on getting a nice display piece.

Now the thimble, if the number is 1722, I seriously doubt the thimble is from that era, but maybe it is the date of birth of someone and it is possible the thimble is a later one from the 1700s, but almost looks late 1700s at best. A photo of the top might show better that it is made up of concentric rings which I think dates it later than earlier.

Here is a website on thimbles that migh help you fully ID the era.

http://www.ukdfd.co.uk/pages/thimble.html

Don

 

[johnnyi]

I don't know Don and Buckles, maybe you're right that that thing is a shoe buckle. Probably 99% chance you are right that it is one as it seems the shape of a shoe buckle. My little 1% doubt (besides not knowing its size) comes from looking at the visible outside edge. On every shoe buckle I've looked at that I've found, plus all ilustrated ones I've seen, they show the outside edge is thick to accomodate the cross pin of the chape. This thickness in every example I've looked at is flush with the outside edge also. This thickness is obvious on all of them. It doesn't appear to be thick to the edge on this buckle. (there are little bumps which might be the ends of the brass pin, but again if they are the pin, why would they protrude on both sides and why so out of allignment? ) The other thing that gives that little 1% doubt is, it is nigh on impossible (for me anyway,) to see any break in the cross bar at the point where it should pivot. It might be so corroded in place that this wouldn't show, but you'd think that on a cross bar as wide as this one is, a break would show a little. I'm just wondering if this buckle might be something else. Maybe it's a smaller knee buckle where such a wide chape cross bar would make sense in relation to the size of the frame, or maybe it's slightly later than a colonial buckle, where a cross bar was cast into the frame with steel prongs around it rather than part of it?

 

[Don in SJ]

Of course the buckle could be another type than a shoe buckle, no size reference can be determined and the only suspect I see is the center portion, but the curvature suggests shoe buckle, not sure of age.

Much more interested in the thimble than the buckle, it just does not have the characteristics of a thimble from the early part of the 1700s.

 

[johnnyi]

Don, the size was the least of the things that caught my eye. Again, it is the outside edge. Have you ever seen a shoe buckle where the outside edge of the frame was not thick to the very edge?

As far as the thimble goes, it would be nice if we had a better picture of the rim, but from what we can see of the rim, as well as the top and sides, it seems like it is as you suggestd, early 19th century. To me the size of the rim compared to the overall size ofthe thimble rules out a rolled rim which would place it even later.

Don, out of all my thimbles, these are the only ones I can actually confirm being of a certain age, as they were dug below a hard strata of new road gravel through the place which dated around the 1850's. Odds are none of these would have sunk beneath it as it was hard packed. None of them have a very noticable rim. Of course they could be any age prior to 1850's.

 

[X-Splenda]

how should i use to get a better and more clear words from it??
mineral oil?
there's like a bunch of letters what are really crude....
the name looks like Francis. prag or something close to that
the date is really hard to see....
but it looks like
1734 or 1722
but i could be wrong with the first number
it can be a 18 to....
any ideas to better clean it?
i need a magnify glass to see it better

 

[X-Splenda]

update: i recently just fouund two more buttons from the site.....
it is soaking in mineral oil now.....
i will show there pictures in a new post...

 

[Goldiver]

Nice looking finds! I like the thimble and she buckle. As far as the thimble goes, I found three or four recently at an 1830's era riverside camp in Ohio. None with the same numbers but they were hand carved/decorated.


Steve

 

[BuckleBoy]

update: i recently just fouund two more buttons from the site.....
it is soaking in mineral oil now.....
i will show there pictures in a new post...

This post may be of some interest to you:

http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,165857.0.html


Regards,


Buckleboy

 

[SteveDodds]

Don't go hitting a stone with a hammer. I don't care if its a diamond or not. It will shatter.