One of my rarest artifacts ever.

[Fossil_adult]

Yeah I don't say that for no reason. I went back to a site that gas produced for me in the past, but this time it gave me a smoker. I don't think I will ever find something like this again. I believe it is a keratin nail from a safari animal, with a zebra painted onto it's face! I never expected to come across something like this in a million years. I don't have much else to say I has to hurry it back home to get it back safely.

I still cannot believe the paint managed to stay on for over a century. I don't know how it didn't just come right off!

It's going to be very difficult to top this one. I wonder where it could have come from? Africa? Some safari trip? A circus? Who knows. The possibilities with this one are endless.

 

[CoinsAndThings]

That's interesting. Waiting to see if anyone here knows what it's origin might be

 

[Gene Mean]

Interesting. Where found? Country?

 

[Fossil_adult]

Interesting. Where found? Country?

Washington DC, USA.

 

[Gene Mean]

Washington DC, USA.

So in other words, you stole it from the Smithsonian! Hehe
Pretty cool. Hope it's old and authentic, whatever it is.

 

[Fossil_adult]

So in other words, you stole it from the Smithsonian! Hehe
Pretty cool. Hope it's old and authentic, whatever it is.

I think it's old. I believe it must have just came out because there is no other way that paint would survive those conditions.

 

[Red-Coat]

Very interesting. I have no idea how old it might be (probably not 'over a century') but I have seen similar items being sold at craft markets in South Africa. They're a form of folk art colloquially known as 'hoof art' and are painted (sometimes carved as well as painted) on portions of various bovid hooves, especially from the Cape Buffalo.

Although the colouration is not accurately depicted, I suspect it's meant to be a Mountain Zebra, and probably the Cape Mountain Zebra, which has a distinctive reddish-brown snout and is native to the Cape Provinces of South Africa.

 

[Fossil_adult]

Very interesting. I have no idea how old it might be (probably not 'over a century') but I have seen similar items being sold at craft markets in South Africa. They're a form of folk art colloquially known as 'hoof art' and are painted (sometimes carved as well as painted) on portions of various bovid hooves, especially from the Cape Buffalo.

Although the colouration is not accurately depicted, I suspect it's meant to be a Mountain Zebra, and probably the Cape Mountain Zebra, which has a distinctive reddish-brown snout and is native to the Cape Provinces of South Africa.

I'd say it is. It came from a bottle dump the same age. I've never found anything here younger than 1924.

 

[Red-Coat]

I'd say it is. It came from a bottle dump the same age. I've never found anything here younger than 1924.

You mean apart from the 1960s advertising token that you thought to be from 1906 based on where you found it... or was that another site?

Southwest virginia doesn't disappoint

I love southwest virginia. In fact, anywhere I am at, I love it. Because no matter what place I am at on planet earth, I find something. Always. And I have to say, this relic I found is really cool! It's an old mining token from 1906, which was used as currency for the miners that worked at this...

www.treasurenet.com

I once found a Dunlop golf ball in the side of a Neolithic ditch that I was excavating for lithic artefacts.

 

[Fossil_adult]

You mean apart from the 1960s advertising token that you thought to be from 1906 based on where you found it... or was that another site?

Southwest virginia doesn't disappoint

I love southwest virginia. In fact, anywhere I am at, I love it. Because no matter what place I am at on planet earth, I find something. Always. And I have to say, this relic I found is really cool! It's an old mining token from 1906, which was used as currency for the miners that worked at this...

www.treasurenet.com

It was another site. I was unfamiliar with the history of that token and that area, and as a result I miffed it. I've been going to this site for years now, my youngest bottle from there dates to 1924. It could be younger but there are stains on its backside which coencide with similar stains of artifacts I've found in the embankment, making it more plausible that it came out the embankment.

 

[E-Trac-Ohio]

Very cool !

 

[oldmxrat]

Interesting find, congrats!

 

[Digger RJ]

Yeah I don't say that for no reason. I went back to a site that gas produced for me in the past, but this time it gave me a smoker. I don't think I will ever find something like this again. I believe it is a keratin nail from a safari animal, with a zebra painted onto it's face! I never expected to come across something like this in a million years. I don't have much else to say I has to hurry it back home to get it back safely.

View attachment 2211157

I still cannot believe the paint managed to stay on for over a century. I don't know how it didn't just come right off!

View attachment 2211158
It's going to be very difficult to top this one. I wonder where it could have come from? Africa? Some safari trip? A circus? Who knows. The possibilities with this one are endless.

Nice !!! Congrats!!!