Old Homestead Finds – Ring, Marble, Harness Bell & Buttons!

[ANTIQUARIAN]

This homestead site was active from approximately 1865 – 1930, based on the date range of my finds over the past 3 years. The relics are getting much harder to find here, consequently I’ve modified the settings on my Deus. I’m currently running with 0 discrimination at 12htz. The noise here is overwhelming, but I managed a couple of keepers for 5hrs of detecting yesterday. Thankfully, we had heavy rain here on Saturday, so the eyeball finds were plentiful this go round. Today’s finds were an old brass ring, a blue glass marble, a 1922 Canadian Penny, a horse harness bell, an iron ‘horse shoe’ heel plate and assorted buttons.

After doing some research, I feel that one of the buttons is actually made of ‘Vegetable Ivory’, see the description below. I also found a c1930 aluminum lid from a bottle of ‘Campana’s Italian Balm’, see the history of this interesting company below.

‘Vegetable Ivory Buttons’
“Vegetable Ivory is a very dense material that comes from the Corozo nut that grows on the Tague Tree, a type of palm tree. It was named Vegetable Ivory because it resembles real ivory though it is not as heavy. These buttons were first introduced in 1862 at an exposition in Paris, France. Vegetable Ivory became the choice button for men's jackets which was introduced during that time and replaced old dress coats. Their production peaked from 1870 until 1920. The Vegetable Ivory buttons you can find today have a variety of different looks. Some are carved, pressed with fine lined patterns, painted or some have a shiny, mottled look. Some were dyed with other colors and some had cloth or even glass mounted on them.”

‘Campana’s Italian Balm’
“The Campana Company was incorporated in Batavia, Illinois in 1927. Its first product was Italian Balm, a hand lotion. The formula was purchased from a Dr. Campana, from where the company derives its name. Although the company first operated only two years before the start of The Great Depression, it was initially very prosperous due to innovative advertising promoted by its owner, Ernest Morgan Oswalt. Campana was one of the first companies to offer free cosmetics samples in magazines, a method that is still extensively used. A second method of advertising was the use of radio commercials. Oswalt hired writer Florence Ward to create a radio variety show that would feature commercials for the company. The show, The First Nighter Program, was very successful and ran for 22 years. The company's treasurer and Oswalt's nephew, I. Willard Crull, would write over a hundred radio plays for the program under the pen name Anthony Wayne. Due in part to these commercials, Italian Balm became one of the best-selling hand lotions in the United States.”

A couple of other eyeball finds today was a piece of ‘fools gold’ or pyrite, as well as, a thick piece of red clay tile. This is the first piece of tile like this that I’ve found at this site, but I don’t think it’s from a floor, but maybe for a roof as the edge is slightly curved. I’d appreciate hearing any thoughts on how old you think it might be.

Thanks very much for looking!
Dave

 

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[Hawks88]

Nice variety of finds and I like the old hinge. Congrats.

 

[dirtdigginfool]

Great finds, Antiquarian...kudos on getting that beautiful ring to near perfect shape! I'm always squawking on here about how folks in yesteryear took great pride in their work. For example, that hinge..a simple hinge, and look at the ornate designs. Go to the hardware store today and find a hinge like that..not. Congrats on your finds, looks like you have an awesome site there. Ddf.

 

[Professor of Engineering]

Congratualtions on the very productive hunt!

 

[ToddsPoint]

I've carved those ivory nuts before. It is very similar to ivory. Gary

 

[glass half fool]

I really like that brass bell Lots of other nice items there also .With some luck the best may be yet to be found .

 

[ANTIQUARIAN]

Nice variety of finds and I like the old hinge. Congrats.

Thanks very much for your post and for your comments hawk!
Dave

Great finds, Antiquarian...kudos on getting that beautiful ring to near perfect shape! I'm always squawking on here about how folks in yesteryear took great pride in their work. For example, that hinge..a simple hinge, and look at the ornate designs. Go to the hardware store today and find a hinge like that..not. Congrats on your finds, looks like you have an awesome site there. Ddf.

I completely agree with you ddf, to find quality in craftsmanship these days is getting harder and harder.
This was one of the reasons I stated to tumble my 'everyday' iron finds to preserve them.
The other reason I tumble iron is because the blacksmith hand-made items are often very decorative and are worth preserving for future generations.

Best of luck to you,
Dave

Congratulations on the very productive hunt!

Thank you as always for your support Professor.
Dave

I've carved those ivory nuts before. It is very similar to ivory. Gary

View attachment 1594616

Thanks for your post and for the pic Todd.
At first i wasn't sure what material the button was made from, but after I washed the dirt off it actually looked like ivory.

Thanks again,
Dave

I really like that brass bell Lots of other nice items there also .With some luck the best may be yet to be found .

Thanks ghf, I find a lot of horse harness bells here every year.
But my favourite bells to find are the early cast crotal bells, I only find one or two of these each year.

Best of luck to you!
Dave