Ol Horseshoe

[Kitchen2218]

I cleaned it up a bit. Any ideahow old?

 

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[coinman123]

I had a book which IDed artifacts found at old sites. I no longer have it, but based on what I remember, yours looks mid to late 1700's based on the shape and width of it.

 

[coinman123]

Found the image from the book on the internet. Image in middle is from the book.

 

[vpnavy]

I pulled this from another TN thread - this is just one of the replies in the thread...

Solved: How do you date horseshoes? (Feb 27, 2012, 11:30 AM)​

The information that was provided was found in the book: Artifacts of Colonial America by Ivor Noel Hume. (Don't shoot the messenger-call the author!) As noted, dating horseshoes is difficult at best. As with any hand-made item, the maker has the liberty to make it as he/she wishes. A current gunmaker could easily produce a flintlock rifle with all the early fixtures, but it obviously would not be old. Same thing with an ancient spear/arrow point. All one can do is go with the professional studies that have been documented and make your best guess.

 

[BosnMate]

Did you find the shoe in conjunction with other finds that might help date the shoe. It is almost impossible to date horse shoes. One might believe in evolution, but the horses foot hasn't evolved a lick in hundreds of years, so the same problems that caused a horse to go lame in the days of knights in shinning armor apply to the horse today. Any attempt to date a horse shoe by shape and or size is difficult to say the least. If the picture in the book gives you an educated guess, and you are happy with the guess, then that's fine. But I was shoeing horses in the 60's and 70's, and I've made hand made shoes that look just exactly like your find, and I'm sure there are horseshoers that are making them today for one reason or another. It's like finding a knife and trying to date it by the shape of the blade.

 

[coinman123]

Did you find the shoe in conjunction with other finds that might help date the shoe. It is almost impossible to date horse shoes. One might believe in evolution, but the horses foot hasn't evolved a lick in hundreds of years, so the same problems that caused a horse to go lame in the days of knights in shinning armor apply to the horse today. Any attempt to date a horse shoe by shape and or size is difficult to say the least. If the picture in the book gives you an educated guess, and you are happy with the guess, then that's fine. But I was shoeing horses in the 60's and 70's, and I've made hand made shoes that look just exactly like your find, and I'm sure there are horseshoers that are making them today for one reason or another. It's like finding a knife and trying to date it by the shape of the blade.

I asked my horse's farrier a question about a horseshoe I found when I was new. He told me the same thing as you for the most part. Also, the horseshoes that he put on my horse looked almost the same as the one I found, just slightly lighter weight.

 

[coinman123]

Best thing to do is date when your site was most inhabited based on the average age of the artifacts you find there. That way you can guess that your horse is likely from that same time.