Horse Shoes...Civil War???

[oxfordpete]

I just stepped out of my office for a 30 minute break and dug up these two horse shoes. A couple of our buildings on campus were civil war hospitals, and both sides calvaries chased each other around here during the Battle of Atlanta. As with everything I find around here, and being a civil war junkie, I try to make a link.

Any way these could be horse shoes from the civil war era??

 

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[NOLA_Ken]

I'm not an expert on horseshoes, but I can tell you I found a lot of them in Atl. Years ago we found all four horseshoes, plus what was left of the tack when we were digging a foundation in Cabbagetown. I hit the lot pretty hard and found shrapnel and bullets so best guess is a horse got killed in the fighting and buried where it fell. I dug a lot of them in Candler park near the creek too, and up in Bolton. There's a lot of good stuff still in the ground there.

I don't know if it's still open, but there was a hardware store up on Bolton road, and the old guy who owned it was a serious relic hunter, he got to a lot of spots before anyone else and had an impressive collection in the store. If it's still there you should go have a look.

 

[High Plains Digger]

If they were worn very thin, my guess would be Sherman's! I have checked, and have been told (correct me if I am wrong, please) that horse shoes haven't changed much and can't be dated. Mule shoes, on the otherhand, are a different critter. There is a web site on mules (Nation Mule Association, or something like that, and it is in the East) that the guy says he can tell the time period on some. So, go find a mule shoe and get that one dated. I have a couple, and they are like night and day.

I hope your campus is private, as the laws pertaining to artifacts on Georgia State property are terrible. Can't even magnet fish for relics in a river, and I don't know what they do on beaches. Check out their website. But, the laws are only as good as the enforcement, so read the bit from a day or two ago about the guy on railroad property and how he was popped. And his detector snagged. I'm just saying..........

 

[civilman1]

Kind of hard to tell,but Welcome....CW junkie here too.

 

[Curious The George]

One on left - horse. One on right - mule.

 

[ANTIQUARIAN]

One on left - horse. One on right - mule.

Very interesting George . . . so does this mean the one I found is a mule shoe and not a horse shoe?

Thanks,
Dave

 

[Curious The George]

Dave, You got a horse shoe. Horse feet are round like an "O". Mule feet are flatter on the side like a "U".

Look at the two shoes at the top and you can see the sides of the horse shoe are round, like yours. The sides of the mule shoe are flatter.

 

[rjw4law]

Definitley a horse and a mule shoe...dug many of them...all keepers.

 

[High Plains Digger]

Curious the George speaks the truth, curiously enough. A mule shoe on a horse would make it walk like a ballerina. Or a drunk mule.