Found a lead bale seal in MS. stamped LEE

Tom Bigbee · May 16, 2015

Has anyone else found one of these in MS.? If so please post a pic. Found this one (my first) today at an old house site along with a very old ring. The other relics came from the same site. My partner and I have found coins there that date from 1866 to 1964 over the past 2 months.

redbronco · May 17, 2015

Now that was a good day. Cool finds.

Tom Bigbee · May 17, 2015

redbronco said:
Now that was a good day. Cool finds.

Thanks redbronco.... Sites like this don't come around often.

bonepicker · May 18, 2015

I agree with bronco. Very nice hunt and assortment of finds. Neat old valve, lots of silver, and I wonder if that round obj top right was some sort of looking glasss (lens missing).
I have never found a bale seal, or if did it didn't have any details, and I assumed it was just a melted piece of lead.
Lee seems like a common name in the south. Its almost like Jackson. No matter which southern state you are in, there is a city and/or county named Lee.
Maybe try the What Is It section of this forum. I have a lot of luck there. Whenever I find something im not sure of, someone usually steps in and helps with a description or some insight as to where it came from.

Tom Bigbee · May 18, 2015

bonepicker said:
I agree with bronco. Very nice hunt and assortment of finds. Neat old valve, lots of silver, and I wonder if that round obj top right was some sort of looking glasss (lens missing).
I have never found a bale seal, or if did it didn't have any details, and I assumed it was just a melted piece of lead.
Lee seems like a common name in the south. Its almost like Jackson. No matter which southern state you are in, there is a city and/or county named Lee.
Maybe try the What Is It section of this forum. I have a lot of luck there. Whenever I find something im not sure of, someone usually steps in and helps with a description or some insight as to where it came from.

Thanks bonepicker... I really would like to know more about these seals. I think they were used in the fur trade and had something to do with cotton bales. I imagine they were used to seal many things, maybe even bags of grain and things like that. I did a 'lead bale seal' search on this site and there have been many found and posted in the 'What Is It?' section. About 7 pages worth. I am going to keep reading those posts for now... I think the round thing you mentioned is part of an old pocket watch.