Pair of copper spuds.

copperpile · Mar 30, 2013

Thought I'd share this. Found these together several years ago. They are coper with a brown patina I believe because they spent much time in water. One still has a nice cutting edge. The other seems to maybe have been for rough work. They weigh 138 and 176 grams and are both about 3.5 inches long.

rock · Mar 30, 2013

Nice finds. So what were they used for?

copperpile · Mar 30, 2013

I believe they were used for wood working. From what I have read they are hafted to a handle that has an elbow on it.

rock · Mar 30, 2013

Kinda like a stone gouge then.

copperpile · Mar 30, 2013

I guess so Rock.

fishstick · Mar 30, 2013

Those would've been BANNER piece's if found recently!!! CONGRATS.. HH

GatorBoy · Mar 30, 2013

Are these native made? Or colonial European? How can you tell?

quito · Mar 30, 2013

great relics you found there. We don't see to many copper artifacts on here. Keep up the good work, and thanks for sharing.

Joel

GatorBoy · Mar 30, 2013

They appear to be part of a "Coopers" tool kit. A Cooper was a person who made wooden barrels.

copperpile · Mar 30, 2013

GatorBoy said:
They appear to be part of a "Coopers" tool kit. A Cooper was a person who made wooden barrels.

I think these were manufactured a few thousand years before barrels were in use. With the pair of copper spuds was a copper knife. All were in a small cache.

digordie · Mar 30, 2013

GatorBoy said:
Are these native made? Or colonial European? How can you tell?

Definatly native made. If you google copper culture you can see pics of closely related finds from that culture.

digordie · Mar 30, 2013

copperpile said:
<img src="http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=768547"/>
Thought I'd share this. Found these together several years ago. They are coper with a brown patina I believe because they spent much time in water. One still has a nice cutting edge. The other seems to maybe have been for rough work. They weigh 138 and 176 grams and are both about 3.5 inches long.

What state did you find them in?

copperpile · Mar 30, 2013

Found in Northern Michigan.

releventchair · Mar 30, 2013

copperpile said:
Found in Northern Michigan.

Superior Copper country!!

joshuaream · Mar 31, 2013

Classic archaic copper!

I saw a couple of those hafted on elk antler at a museum in Canada, and they fit perfectly (picture an L made from the longest tine and the brow tine.) Later historic groups made hide scrapers from the same set up.

pickaway · Apr 1, 2013

Great finds...

copperpile · Apr 1, 2013

Thanks....

Backbacon · Apr 1, 2013

This is the kind of finds that I love to see. :icon_thumleft:

To find one copper culture Adze would truly make my day for sure, let alone the 2 amongst a tool cache.... I'm not sure about the rules of which constitute a "Banner" find, however I would think that these 2 pieces should be worthy of one? Could one not wait until they had the significant amount of posts and or time on this site to reveal what they have found in order to receive the "Banner" find? Here's some photos in relation to how these pieces of copper may have been implemented in the lives of the copper culture Native people. Once again, :icon_thumleft:

epic finds and they are (IMHO) truly more significant than most people can truly appreciate. Be proud, your copper finds are currently older than most of the finds on the current list of "Banner" finds and are some of the first examples of worked metal in North America.