Last holdouts from our latest colonial site...iron stirrup - how old is it?

gwdigger · Apr 30, 2014

My buddy and I spent 5 hours on this site yesterday and managed to beat the rain but the site is now pretty lean. Time to move on. I need to clean up the stirrup and restore it if worthwhile. Any ideas of its age? I dont generally dig iron unless by accident. The last pics are the 5 colonial coins I found on the site. My buddy got 3 spent coppers and an 1808 half reale.

treblehunter · Apr 30, 2014

Nice finds

blugotti1 · Apr 30, 2014

great colonial finds!!!

stefen · Apr 30, 2014

Iron stirrup can be better identified once the rust is removed...may date prior to Revolutary times to today...

Not uncommon, and in fact, still manufactured today...used primarily on English saddles...

I have a McClelland saddle from the CW era that has a similar stirrup...plus/minus 150 yrs old

Although the shape and construction add to the identification...

vpnavy · Apr 30, 2014

Great finds Digger! Thanks for sharing...

gwdigger · May 1, 2014

stefen said:
Iron stirrup can be better identified once the rust is removed...may date prior to Revolutary times to today...

Not uncommon, and in fact, still manufactured today...used primarily on English saddles...

I have a McClelland saddle from the CW era that has a similar stirrup...plus/minus 150 yrs old

Although the shape and construction add to the identification...

Thats what I thought. Its possible its not old at all based on all the farmer dropped wheat pennies we found out here. So, I'll just put it on the shelf for now. Thanks for posting.

park pirate · May 1, 2014

Like the cut silver, nice finds..

stefen · May 1, 2014

gwdigger said:
Thats what I thought. Its possible its not old at all based on all the farmer dropped wheat pennies we found out here. So, I'll just put it on the shelf for now. Thanks for posting.

Absolutely, it could be a mid-20th century stirrup...that is why I stated that it's better identified once the rust is removed...

For example let's say you identified the stirrup as coming from the Revolutionary War period, and when you cleaned the rust away you found it was stamped "MADE IN JAPAN".

You did right in not jumping to a conclusion...

Good hunt.