Finally finished cleaning up and preserving the huge colonial andiron

Bill D. (VA)

Silver Member
Oct 7, 2008
4,711
6,212
SE Virginia
🥇 Banner finds
6
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
2
Detector(s) used
F75 SE (land); CZ-21 (saltwater)
Primary Interest:
Other
Many of you may remember when Dan and I extricated this huge 20 lb glob of corroded iron from a massive entanglement of roots back before Thanksgiving. It was found on the steep banks of a ravine just above a spring stream adjacent to an early colonial site we'd been hunting. It's been undergoing electrolysis for about 2 months now, and I'll have to say it's been the most difficult iron preservation project I've undertaken. Due to the massive size and weight of the andiron the electrolysis process went very slow. About once a week I'd pull it out of the tank and carefully chip away at some of the corrosion using a hammer, screwdriver, wire brush, or even a dremel tool. It finally got to the point that I felt if I kept going any further it would start eating away at the base metal, so I decided to call it quits yesterday. After one last attempt to get as much of the rusty spots off as I could, I soaked liberally with WD-40 as I usually do and let it do its work for a bit. Then after thoroughly drying I applied 3 coats of clear polyurethane to complete the job. There are still some orange spots left, but I did all I could without starting to damage the artifact.

As I've stated before, the top of the piece depicts what appears to be the head of an Aztec, Incan or Egyptian queen with the facial details showing up nicely along with what appears to be some sort of headdress or crown on her head. Further down it looks like I can see folded arms along with some kind of large, decorative medallion below that. On the back you can see where the horizontal bar that supported the firewood was attached. Based on its huge size, it must have been used in a very large fireplace in the manor house we know existed somewhere on this site. A friend of mine who is an authority working for the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation positively ID'd this as an upright from a colonial andiron, and not a boot jack as many on this forum originally thought. And it could date anywhere from the late 1600s to the late 1700s. Regardless, it's a very cool colonial piece, and I can now finally start the cleaning process on the backlog of other iron artifacts that have been waiting patiently in line.

The pics below show (hopefully in order) the andiron immediately after being recovered, in the process of being cleaned, and the final product.

andiron1a.jpg
 

Attachments

  • andiron1.jpg
    andiron1.jpg
    311.6 KB · Views: 146
  • andiron2.jpg
    andiron2.jpg
    287.4 KB · Views: 145
  • andiron2a.jpg
    andiron2a.jpg
    122.1 KB · Views: 143
  • andiron3.jpg
    andiron3.jpg
    355.5 KB · Views: 145
  • andiron4a.jpg
    andiron4a.jpg
    293.4 KB · Views: 175
  • andiron4b.jpg
    andiron4b.jpg
    296.3 KB · Views: 152
  • andiron4c.jpg
    andiron4c.jpg
    302 KB · Views: 149
  • andiron4d.jpg
    andiron4d.jpg
    244.7 KB · Views: 161
Last edited:
Upvote 16
Looks good man...
Bill did you ever find anything more out about it ?
 

Excellent preserving job Bill, THAT will look like a centerpiece relic for anybody's display...
Don
 

It ended up looking quite nice. I'm impressed with your perseverance and dedication to saving what many would consider an old hunk of iron. I note too she has thighs like Earl Campbell. Great job, Bill!
 

Looks good man...
Bill did you ever find anything more out about it ?

Nothing specific, but it definitely dates between the late 1600s and late 1700s. But based on many of the other finds coming from this site I'd have to lean toward the earlier part of that period.
 

great job, piece of art again, just a great save
 

Nice work! I tried doing an image search using many different search term combinations and found nothing. Not that a lack of results means too much, but it would be pretty cool if this were a domestic colonial product with a very small production run. Given unlimited resources, an isotopic or trace element analysis of the metal might reveal the geographic source of the iron. I wonder how it would have been cast? Sand molds formed with a carved wood template?
 

I can't believe two months has gone by so quickly! Probably didn't feel that way while you watched that piece, but it was worth it. Turned out pretty good.
In case folks don't think as much about these things. I was reading "The Entailed Hat", a book about Patty Cannon and the local slavers around my area. It has a lot of interesting historical insights. One which surprised me, was that Iron, which was relatively scarce, was a valuable commodity. Especially heavy pcs. like andirons were so valuable as recycled items that they were stolen from abandoned homes for barter. That probably makes them rarer than we might imagine.
Nice recovery.
 

Cool! Could have belonged to one of the founders at some point! :thumbsup:
 

Its great to see you saved something many would have simply discarded as junk. Nice job! :thumbsup:
 

Nothing like a beautiful and totally unusual relic to make one's day. I really enjoyed seeing that piece post-electrolysis. Congrats, Bill!

-Buck
 

Looks great Bill, nice work with E tank. Detail is still pretty incredible after all those years.
 

Top Member Reactions

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top