Dump Diggin

flipper · Feb 18, 2012

Beautiful PA day, went dump diggin... and found this ! ! ! It is solid copper. Looks like it might be a tap for a wooden keg.. Any ideas on the year?

fossis · Feb 19, 2012

Nice find, I have one almost like it, I think you will find it is 'Brass', & goes back into the 1800's.

Fossis.........

flipper · Feb 19, 2012

Cool..... Any suggestions how to clean it?

Marbleguy · Feb 19, 2012

Cleaning old brass..

I dip old brass,etc into a ceramic or glass container of muriatic acid. This is sold in gallon jugs at hardware stores as swimming pool cleaner. It's diluted hydrochloric acid. I leave the object immersed for a few seconds then use a glass or soapstone tool to remove it from the acid and place it into a container of water. After that I use a steel wool dish washer pad to further clean the object. Be very careful not to get the muriatic acid on your skin or eyes.

PikesPeakCharlie · Feb 19, 2012

Nice find !! :icon_thumright:

put it in a small container completely cover it with white vineager ,,let soak a day or 2,,rinse, brush with a toothbrush ,,shine it up with some steel wool. Do not do this if you want to keep the green patina.

flipper · Feb 19, 2012

What would the handle have looked like?

Thanks for the info...

sodetraveler · Feb 20, 2012

flipper said:
Beautiful PA day, went dump diggin... and found this ! ! ! It is solid copper. Looks like it might be a tap for a wooden keg.. Any ideas on the year?

I dug one of those up under my back deck last week. The dump layer I was digging looked to be 1860's to 1870's based on the bottles (see post Last Night Under the Deck). Note: the pontil'd bottle in my post came from a deeper layer that was presumably late 1850's. The spigot was in a layer about a foot higher up that had slightly newer stuff.

I'll post a picture tomorrow if I remember......

sodetraveler · Feb 21, 2012

sodetraveler said:
I'll post a picture tomorrow if I remember......

I remembered! This one is a little different, having a "T" shaped handle - with one arm of the T missing. Yours seems to be missing the handle entirely? Otherwise though, almost the same.

It should be noted that even though the layer it was in can be dated to around 1870, the spigot would not have been thrown away until it was worn out or broken. It could have been in use for many years - or even decades!