E
elle
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I was wondering if anyone might have an opinion about this object I am posting.
I found it a few years ago while metal detecting on the ocean beach and I am determined to come to a finalized logical conclusion one day of its origin.
I never thought about posting it until I came across Iron Spike's artifact that he posted on this forum:
http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,226361.0.html
I am not saying that we both found the same type of artifact...that is up for you all to decide.
But there are several similarities in the size and in the type of metal used. Iron Spike said he found his at a site that was on land that produced objects from the Colonial period all the way up to the present.
Here are some details surrounding my find. I dug it up very deep in the sand using my Tersoro Sand Shark. A couple feet away, I found some lead sheathing and remnants of some ship rigging.
When I got home and removed the encrustation, it resembled a sand dollar.
Some people would tell me it was an object made by the local Indians. I started to investigate melted trinkets and I found that most were usually made with some silver in it. Mine is not silver.
I believe it to be pewter as Iron Spike's object. As I learned, pewter was one of the main metals used in the Colonial period, and in the 1760's, more than three hundred tons of pewter were shipped annually to America.
"To the eighteenth-century housewife, pewter objects were beautiful things to be kept polished and gleaming."
Pewter is mostly tin with some copper and lead added. It is easily bent, streched, or compressed, and its low melting point makes it easily poured into molds. My object is very thin due to deteriation, but can be bent with force...I only tried once...LOL.
Now I was originally told that this was hand-made and the five openings were pounded out. My parents believe the metal left on the underside had a purpose...to catch or snag on a piece of cloth. This made me believe that maybe it was once used on the sails, but other details do not add to this theory.
I have markings on my object that were intentional on the piece...numbers from what I can make out. I read that pewter is soft and could be used again and again. A colonial family could take three pewter spoons to a pewterer and come back with buttons, buckles, and even pewter nipples for a baby bottle! The pewterer had molds and pewter was cast in wood, copper and brass molds.
A retired scientist pointed out that this piece was pounded on wood...as you can see in picture above the lines of the wood.
I started thinking that maybe this was melted in a wood mold as I had read...purposely to be used as...a label?
Then, I came across this picture:
It is a barrel top recovered from an eighteenth-century British shipwreck. The reference said it showed deep carved numerals which identified not only the contents, but the lot number, date, and weight...the broad arrow meant it was of British government property.
So when I studied this photo...I wondered if maybe labels were made purposely of pewter and then nailed down to containers...trade containers on ships and even on wooden barrels all over Colonial America. That way the barrels had no permanent markings and could be used again for future use?
Has anyone ever heard of labels used...such as metal round pieces...nailed to wood...used for identification purposes?
Or does anyone have comments as to what this could have been used for?
Thank you everyone!
Laura
I found it a few years ago while metal detecting on the ocean beach and I am determined to come to a finalized logical conclusion one day of its origin.
I never thought about posting it until I came across Iron Spike's artifact that he posted on this forum:
http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,226361.0.html
I am not saying that we both found the same type of artifact...that is up for you all to decide.
But there are several similarities in the size and in the type of metal used. Iron Spike said he found his at a site that was on land that produced objects from the Colonial period all the way up to the present.
Here are some details surrounding my find. I dug it up very deep in the sand using my Tersoro Sand Shark. A couple feet away, I found some lead sheathing and remnants of some ship rigging.
When I got home and removed the encrustation, it resembled a sand dollar.
Some people would tell me it was an object made by the local Indians. I started to investigate melted trinkets and I found that most were usually made with some silver in it. Mine is not silver.
I believe it to be pewter as Iron Spike's object. As I learned, pewter was one of the main metals used in the Colonial period, and in the 1760's, more than three hundred tons of pewter were shipped annually to America.
"To the eighteenth-century housewife, pewter objects were beautiful things to be kept polished and gleaming."
Pewter is mostly tin with some copper and lead added. It is easily bent, streched, or compressed, and its low melting point makes it easily poured into molds. My object is very thin due to deteriation, but can be bent with force...I only tried once...LOL.
Now I was originally told that this was hand-made and the five openings were pounded out. My parents believe the metal left on the underside had a purpose...to catch or snag on a piece of cloth. This made me believe that maybe it was once used on the sails, but other details do not add to this theory.
I have markings on my object that were intentional on the piece...numbers from what I can make out. I read that pewter is soft and could be used again and again. A colonial family could take three pewter spoons to a pewterer and come back with buttons, buckles, and even pewter nipples for a baby bottle! The pewterer had molds and pewter was cast in wood, copper and brass molds.
A retired scientist pointed out that this piece was pounded on wood...as you can see in picture above the lines of the wood.
I started thinking that maybe this was melted in a wood mold as I had read...purposely to be used as...a label?
Then, I came across this picture:
It is a barrel top recovered from an eighteenth-century British shipwreck. The reference said it showed deep carved numerals which identified not only the contents, but the lot number, date, and weight...the broad arrow meant it was of British government property.
So when I studied this photo...I wondered if maybe labels were made purposely of pewter and then nailed down to containers...trade containers on ships and even on wooden barrels all over Colonial America. That way the barrels had no permanent markings and could be used again for future use?
Has anyone ever heard of labels used...such as metal round pieces...nailed to wood...used for identification purposes?
Or does anyone have comments as to what this could have been used for?
Thank you everyone!
Laura
I think frogwizard has the right idea that the taps held something in place.
