This piece is certainly spilled lead. If it isn't oxidized enough to look old, then it is more modern spilled lead. A piece like that, if it were a brooch, would either be hand-carved (and there is no sign of that, since there are no cut marks), or cast in a mold (which this obviously isn't--or if it was, it was the worst, most unskilled casting I've ever seen, since you can't even see what the design was *supposed* to be). I have seen much melted lead, dug from sites that date from the 1700s up through the Civil War, and sometimes I think it might be something. Folks have even posted melted lead on here saying it was an animal, person, or some other figure. I posted one here as a joke saying that it was an eagle, and commented on a friends thread jokingly that he had found lead in the shape of the state of Louisiana. I guess if you stare at something long enough, you can see just about anything that you want. And if you already are convinced that it's Not melted lead, then you perhaps shouldn't have posted it here asking for our experience, help, and ideas. But any way you dice it, it's just a piece of melted lead. Scratch the "back" of it with a knife and I'll be willing to bet you it'll shine like silver and be soft to cut. Take me up on the challenge, and post a photo here. -Buck