🔎 UNIDENTIFIED Found pieces to a copper necklace. Native American?

[FreeBirdTim]

I was detecting in the woods yesterday and found quite a few pieces of thin copper. They all have a tiny hole on the edge, so I'm thinking it was once a necklace. Any chance this necklace is Native American? I know copper kettle points are found on a fairly regular basis around here, so it might be possible that these pieces are that old. Any input would be appreciated.

and found quite a few pieces of thin copper. They all have a tiny hole on the edge, so I'm thinking it was once a necklace. Any chance this necklace is Native American? I know copper kettle points are found on a fairly regular basis around here, so it might be possible that these pieces are that old. Any input would be appreciated.

 

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[ARC]

Not to be funny... but parts of a very old primitive wind chime. ?

 

[CreakyDigger]

Copper tends to have a green patina if old.

For instance:

 

[FreeBirdTim]

Thanks for all the repies. You''re right, I need to keep an open mind on these pieces. I'll go back today or tomorrow and see if I can find anything else there. I'm just wondering why none of the pieces had any thread or wire on them. Thread could break down over many years, but I've found 1700's buttons that still had thread on the eyelet.

Hopefully, I'll find a roach clip or metal pipe at the spot and then I'll know it was wind chime that a 1960's hippie had while he was camping out on public land! Lol!

 

[Kray Gelder]

I agree with ARC. Wind chime/mobile. The sheet metal was rolled. Uniform thickness. Not native. Edge cuts perfect and uniform. Pieces identical.

 

[smokeythecat]

And why in the woods? I have found some odd stuff in the "wrong" places. An antique $5 US gold coin on a MODERN beach. I suppose someone had it in a necklace with a screw closure and it fell out. Or the silver ring in the middle of nowhere. All by itself. Or a 16th century Spanish half blanca coin in a farm field where there were previously just rumors of the Spanish having walked through there (within 10 miles, that is) with no camp, way back in the 1570's. Maybe a buck deer took exception to your brass and it got tangled in its antlers and this is where it ended up. I have seen videos with them with Christmas lights on their antlers. Or a hippie. It would be impossible to be sure. All my native used brass was much more irregular that the pieces you have.

 

[DCMatt]

I'm with the others regarding age. I don't get the impression from the pictures that the pieces are very old. But then again, I might think differently if I had them in my hands. I'm guessing it is the remains of an articulating animal pendant. Popular in the 1960's - 70's. Something similar to this. This one is 5 1/2 inches long. They also made owls and elephants and other animals...

 

[releventchair]

They are fairly uniform is size and shape, but possibly made by someone with the patience and skill to make them the same size and shape? I'm sure some Native Americans had the skill to make pieces of a necklace uniform in size.

I found these near the Woonasquatucket River in northern RI, where many Native American artifacts have been found over the years. That fact gives me hope that the pieces are not modern. I also found them deep in the woods, in the middle of nowhere. Why anyone in the last 200 years would be wearing this style of necklace there is beyond me, unless it was lost by a hippie back in the 1960's! Lol!

Congrats on getting out. And of course on the interesting recoveries.

Don't have to be necklace components.
Decorative items were worn many ways.
Skirt , dress , shirt , belt , and more.

Cowrie shell dresses show an example. Some collared , some not.
Not saying your pieces are or are not native , or if native how used.
Just don't want to be stuck on necklace.

 

[ARC]

Thanks for all the repies. You''re right, I need to keep an open mind on these pieces. I'll go back today or tomorrow and see if I can find anything else there. I'm just wondering why none of the pieces had any thread or wire on them. Thread could break down over many years, but I've found 1700's buttons that still had thread on the eyelet.

Hopefully, I'll find a roach clip or metal pipe at the spot and then I'll know it was wind chime that a 1960's hippie had while he was camping out on public land! Lol!

Wind chimes have been used since mankind began to pay attention to the weather and try to predict its future.
Just because it may be a wind chime does not mean it is not a "significant" find... its quite the contrary.
As far as value of a wind chime goes ...lol... um one was valued at over 1 million dollars on Antique Road Show... So dont scoff it off too quickly.

Also... the "Arts and Crafts" movement would also apply here ,,, which again can be a significant find.
Both would perhaps not be in your wheelhouse as far as "like" or "hope" for a find... but none the less a great find.

Hope this irons things out a bit.

PS... I HIGHLY suggest you return and detect that exact area thoroughly.

 

[DCMatt]

Not sure that is pen part... what is the size...?

Are you sure about the WW mark... i cant make it out... perhaps this will lead to exact use.

Cool spot Tim... again i would work that area hard.

It is the body of a dip pen. Nice one. Art nouveau repousse styling. Turn of the 20th C give or take a decade.

 

[FreeBirdTim]

Here's a copper necklace from the 1600's found on Roanoke Island. Some of the pieces sure look uniform to me and they have very sharp edges.

 

[Kray Gelder]

Here's a copper necklace from the 1600's found on Roanoke Island. Some of the pieces sure look uniform to me and they have very sharp edges.

View attachment 2030912

The Native Roanoke pieces are fairly uniform. If you stacked them on top of one another, they would not be exactly alike. Your finds, however, are cut with the same die. They would stack, and line up precisely. Additionally, the unique bend is the same, and would fit together, as machine-made pieces would.

Try it. If I'm wrong, I'm wrong. As to why they're out in the middle of nowhere, who knows what has gone on in those woods for the last 100 years? They could be that old or older. Or not. Cool find.

 

[Back-of-the-boat]

I went on E-B and all I could find were wind chimes that had hollow tubes with small copper pieces. I wonder if these are from a natives ceremonial costume?

You need to look for more than just wind chimes they also are referred to as wind spinners with chimes and other names, the single piece in the OP's picture could be considered the spinner and the other pieces are the chimes. I myself make wind chimes out of doorbell tone bars, we run an Apartment complex and have had some doorbells burn out so wind chimes they became.

 

[FreeBirdTim]

Probably not Native American, but not sure of the age. Went back to that spot today and found one more copper piece and a really cool relic, part of a Sterling silver pen. It's stamped "Sterling" and has a "WW" hallmark on it. Very ornate and definitely pre-1900.

 

[CreakyDigger]

It's a pretty cool find though, how big are they?

 

[smokeythecat]

Interesting. I'm thinking 20th century as the pieces are quite well made. In the old days a lot of the pieces were quite irregular. I have two items that were made from English halfpennies pounded down to way thinner discs.

 

[FreeBirdTim]

They are fairly uniform is size and shape, but possibly made by someone with the patience and skill to make them the same size and shape? I'm sure some Native Americans had the skill to make pieces of a necklace uniform in size.

I found these near the Woonasquatucket River in northern RI, where many Native American artifacts have been found over the years. That fact gives me hope that the pieces are not modern. I also found them deep in the woods, in the middle of nowhere. Why anyone in the last 200 years would be wearing this style of necklace there is beyond me, unless it was lost by a hippie back in the 1960's! Lol!

 

[smokeythecat]

I was out with a friend a couple years ago. I found three silver modern coins (20th century). Not was I was looking for. He found a George III copper (jealous), and a pipe like you mentioned. Like 10' from each other. I would have rather had the copper.

 

[FreeBirdTim]

I did not use the terms crude and rough. Your words. I hope it's what you want it to be, regardless. Jeez.

My mistake to get it in my head that it was a necklace. It may very well be a wind chime. Your comment was your honest opinion and wasn't disrespectful to Native American artisans of that time period.

 

[FreeBirdTim]

Why would a wind chime be 1/2 mile in the woods (in the middle of nowhere)? Could be modern, but not a wind chime.