I've been digging up a large platform scale.. piece by piece

Minrelica

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This isn't silver or gold but it's certainly been entertaining to unearth. A couple weeks ago my hunting buddy found the large piece and I thought that was pretty cool but I returned this morning and found 4 more pieces which include 3 weights and the weight hanger. I hit the '100' weight with a wire cup brush on a drill and it shined up pretty nice with not much effort. I like how the weights are drilled out on the back side to get the weight just right. The '500' weight has a billion holes in it. Has anyone here dug up an entire platform scale? :icon_scratch: It would be pretty neat to find the rest of it but it was probably repurposed.

Thanks for looking

scale 3.webp scale 2.webp scale 1.webp
scale 7.webp scale 6.webp scale 4.webp scale 5.webp
 

Upvote 22
Very cool find, thanks for sharing! :occasion14:
 

I have dug those weights before but, never any of the scale itself. Pretty cool finds. I always cherish my recovered brass pieces with the green patina. That scale arm hanger thingy would clean up nice and make a cool display piece.:icon_thumright:
 

it IS interesting, keep digging
 

I have dug those weights before but, never any of the scale itself. Pretty cool finds. I always cherish my recovered brass pieces with the green patina. That scale arm hanger thingy would clean up nice and make a cool display piece.:icon_thumright:

No brass here but I agree with them being nice display pieces. I was just asked if I would bring the items to the township’s farm show in a few weeks and I said absolutely! Great to share and you can bet I’ll get some permissions out of it.
 

Never dug up even part of a scale. Hope you find the rest of the scale.
 

Why do you think repurposed?

The drilled holes by the way are made to make the weight accurate. ie. started over weight.

Cool find. We often find the Roman version of the lead weights but this year we found our first bit of the balance arm, nothing really changes in 2000 years.
 

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Why do you think repurposed?

Only a guess since all of the pieces so far have been found in one small patch of trees maybe 1/2 acre or so. It is a 20+ acre woods though so it could very well be buried. The 73 year old son who owns the land now thinks he remembers setting the platform on fire in the 1950's but very little would have been wood.
 

Pea scale

This isn't silver or gold but it's certainly been entertaining to unearth. A couple weeks ago my hunting buddy found the large piece and I thought that was pretty cool but I returned this morning and found 4 more pieces which include 3 weights and the weight hanger. I hit the '100' weight with a wire cup brush on a drill and it shined up pretty nice with not much effort. I like how the weights are drilled out on the back side to get the weight just right. The '500' weight has a billion holes in it. Has anyone here dug up an entire platform scale? :icon_scratch: It would be pretty neat to find the rest of it but it was probably repurposed.

Thanks for looking

View attachment 1497778 View attachment 1497781 View attachment 1497782
View attachment 1497783 View attachment 1497784 View attachment 1497785 View attachment 1497786
This is not a platform scale but a hanging scale. We call them pea scales. I watched my grandfather weigh cotton in an oak tree in the yard. We have found 4 weights this year.
 

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