Help with pieces of lead please

Tackie · Mar 16, 2014

Hi folks....once again I'm in need of some opinions from the experts! I've been hunting an area lately and finding a lot of great revolutionary war era artifacts. Today I found two pieces of lead and would appreciate your thoughts on what I have

The first one I found weights 5.2oz and in the picture on the flat side it looks like knife or cut marks....could this be a hunk of lead that they would cut pieces off of to make musket balls? Also it has a hole all the way thru it....any specific reason for this?

The other piece I found weights 4.3oz and is about a 1/16th to a 1/8th of an inch think and it's about 1 1/4 inch wide and if I was to untangle it and make it flat it would be about 7" long. It also has two holes punched thru it....looks like they used a small square nail to make the holes. Again not real sure what to make of it....maybe they were used as fishing weights? Any help y'all could throw my way would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for having a look.

Silver Searcher · Mar 17, 2014

The first looks to be like some kind of plumb weight....second looks like sheet lead, perhaps from a roof.

SS

Tackie · Mar 17, 2014

Silver Searcher said:
The first looks to be like some kind of plumb weight....second looks like sheet lead, perhaps from a roof.

SS

Ahh! something like a plumb-bob....never thought of that but it does make since. the sheet lead would make sense too...I found an old coquina/tabby footer very near by so possibly an old homeplace or other building. Thanks a lot for your thoughts searcher

mope540 · Mar 17, 2014

That lead sheeting reminds me of lead sheaths that surrounded old underground power lines. It was used especially in wet environments like manholes. The sheathing was split down the middle to get to the wire/s inside. The width depending on wire size. I have a small pile of it in my garage that i had planned on melting into fishing weights (not the pictured pile.. :laughing7:

)

Tackie · Mar 17, 2014

Thanks for the reply mope. It sure does resemble the pieces in the picture. I found this piece way out in the woods in the middle of nowhere but it could be a piece like you were saying....weirder things have shown up in stranger places!! Hahahahaha. Thanks for having a look and throwing your two cents in....it's more than I came up with!