My best find from today

[wvmountaineers]

New guy here, so I'd like to introduce myself first. Been lurking for a while and got a Garrett 400 about a month ago. Probably have about 12 hours with it, and man, am I addicted! Love this activity! My family has some land in West Virginia with some older buildings so I have been focused there.

No tremendous finds yet. Lots of trash to sort through. Today I went to a pile of rocks in the woods that I figured had to be an old foundation. Really a clean site, not much metal around. Got a strong signal and at 4 inches I found this bell. Clapper still intact. I'm assuming it's a cowbell? If anyone has seen one like this or has any info, I'd appreciate knowing a little history. From what I could gather on google, it's a cowbell that was made in the 1860-1865 range. Not sure of the accuracy or validity of that.

Thanks for looking, and thanks for all of the great information posted up here. I have learned so much from the members here. What a great forum!


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[Gridwalker306]

Welcome to Tnet! I don't know much about bells, but the eagle on there, and the other decoration leads me to believe it might be more than just a cowbell. Can't wait to see what the experts say. I think that's a really cool find.

 

[Gridwalker306]

I was curious so I looked around. I was suspecting it may be civil war related, and check this out:

I believe this bell was used in the U.S. Camel Corps during the Civil War era. I had never even heard of the Camel Corps before, very interesting! Makes your bell even cooler.

Here is some more info:https://armyhistory.org/the-u-s-armys-camel-corps-experiment/

 

[4x4x4]

WOW !

 

[A2coins]

Welcome gorgeous bell/ Thanks for sharing your great find!!! Tommy

 

[Kurios1]

That bell is just insanely cool as heck. You for sure must be hooked for life to this great addiction of metal detecting. Even with that spot being pretty quiet I'd get back there to see if anything else related to the bell is resting under the sod. Welcome and congrats.

 

[vpnavy]

1st - I noticed this was your very first post wvmountaineers - so, Welcome Aboard! Take a look at Sub-Forums: Virginia for information (i.e., clubs, etc.) directly related to your state.

2nd - Nice find!

 

[against the wind]

That bell is an excellent find .
Congratulations and welcome to Tnet

 

[wvmountaineers]

Thanks for the welcome, everyone. And thanks for the information. The camel corps is news to me . Never heard of it before. That would make for quite a story. I'm going to keep researching as best I can. And yes, I will definitely be heading back to that site, as well as a few other similar sites I have seen that were early settlements.

My main thoughts when I began metal detecting was finding old coins. This has turned my obsession in a totally new and unexpected direction. Haha


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[Trezurehunter]

That bell is unreal. I agree with J Cache. I think its more than a cow bell. If it is a cow bell, that was one special cow !

 

[JeffInMass]

Welcome aboard and Congrats on that amazing bell!

-- Jeff --

 

[wvmountaineers]

I took a toothbrush gently to it and cleaned it up a little . It appears to be silver or pewter to me.


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[Diggin Dude]

Welcome! Very cool find! Nice bell, congrats and HH

 

[trapperart]

Welcome to the forum. That bell is special and a very nice find. I like finding old coins too, but the really great finds are the artifacts with the history. Congrats and good luck. Art

 

[CRUSADER]

I took a toothbrush gently to it and cleaned it up a little . It appears to be silver or pewter to me. View attachment 1440092


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Not silver or pewter, closer to a Tombac type metal.

Don't believe everything on the Net, not saying it's isn't Camel Corp but you need more cross-referencing than that 1 site selling a bell. Good Luck.

 

[relic nut]

That's a great way to start. Awesome find!! Welcome to t-net and the addiction. [emoji482] [emoji106]

HH, RN

 

[Gridwalker306]

Not silver or pewter, closer to a Tombac type metal.

Don't believe everything on the Net, not saying it's isn't Camel Corp but you need more cross-referencing than that 1 site selling a bell. Good Luck.

Googling "camel corps bell" results in a lot of reliable sources with info on this bell, and the camel corps experiment.

If it's real it will be made of bronze

 

[kenstein]

Here is some more info:https://armyhistory.org/the-u-s-armys-camel-corps-experiment/[/QUOTE]

A very interesting read, thanks for sharing that.

 

[kenstein]

That's an amazing find, resulting in an amazing history lesson. Big congratulation. Keep diggin'.

 

[Mike from MI]

Cool find, is are two links to check out. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Camel_Corps

https://armyhistory.org/the-u-s-armys-camel-corps-experiment/