Part of an 1864 Four Barrel Pepperbox Pistol, and a Silver Spoon

[OWK]

Stopped off for a quick 1 hour hunt on the way home. Hit a park with ball fields that I have hunted several times before. This place has been a clad factory in the past, but produced little else.

I knew it was hiding more, because it shows on older maps as a wealthy estate from the late 1700's, with a working farmhouse up until 1970's when the park was built. The 1950's aerial photos show a house in the NW corner of the park. I've hunted that area before, with nothing to show for it. But I also noticed in the same aerial shots, a rectangular depression in the park on the west side. I hit it today. There are absolutely tons of trashy signals in this area from what was once a house, but in between the trash I found a few modern coins, and in addition a nice chunky sterling silver spoon.

But the real prize I didn't even realize until I got home. It is a brass disk. When I first saw it in the hole, I was thinking large cent. But I gave it a rub, and it says "STARR'S PAT'S May 10,1864". Came home and googled the text, and it turns out to be part of a 4 barrel pepperbox pistol. The last photo shows the disk on the full gun that I grabbed from the net.

Pretty happy with the results of my quickie hunt.

 

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[RelicMedic]

Very cool find!! And a nice piece of silver too.

 

[OWK]

I was pretty excited about it. I know for certain that this park has been hunted by others before, but probably not where I was looking. It was away from the heavily used area.

 

[OWK]

Wow. Apparently this is a $3000 to $5000 pistol.

Pretty rare.

 

[OWK]

In case anyone was wondering what the whole pistol looks like.

 

[dirtlooter]

Very cool, period

 

[OWK]

I'm not sure what it is about old identifiable mechanical things... particularly firearms.

I think I like them more than coins, truth be told.

And one of the really neat things about this piece is that I know who owned the property at that time, and can be pretty sure that the firearm belonged to him.

 

[OWK]

Barely scratched the surface of this place. Probably heading back during lunch breaks from work. It's a stone's throw from my office.

(I want the rest of this pistol, and some coinage.)

 

[Darrow]

Hope you find the rest of it, nice!

 

[treblehunter]

Your a great researcher, nice finds, now you have to dig, dig, dig.

 

[OWK]

Hope you find the rest of it, nice!

Thanks Darrow. It's a tough area to hunt. It was a house site, so every other target is a piece of crumpled up roof flashing.

But we'll give it hell trying.

 

[OWK]

Your a great researcher, nice finds, now you have to dig, dig, dig.

Yeah... as much as I hate to do it, this might be a site where I just have to dig everything. It isn't often you get to dig an 18th century home site in a grassy public park.

 

[Old Dude]

Good luck on finding that pistol. It really is neat to see some of members' finds. This hobby keeps on educating me and never gets boring. Glad you decided to join this forum OWK.....you have made many impressive ID's. We need more like you.

 

[OWK]

Good luck on finding that pistol. It really is neat to see some of members' finds. This hobby keeps on educating me and never gets boring. Glad you decided to join this forum OWK.....you have made many impressive ID's. We need more like you.

Thanks Old Dude. That's some high praise indeed.

It's funny the things that touch us. I've found some pretty cool things in the short time I've been back into this hobby, but I'm most thrilled by a little brass disk.

 

[WHADIFIND]

But the real prize I didn't even realize until I got home. It is a brass disk. When I first saw it in the hole, I was thinking large cent. But I gave it a rub, and it says "STARR'S PAT'S May 10,1864". Came home and googled the text, and it turns out to be part of a 4 barrel pepperbox pistol. The last photo shows the disk on the full gun that I grabbed from the net.

I always find it fascinating to get parts like that, makes one wonder if the last person to handle that gun had just lost a part
while cleaning, or if it blew up in his hand.

Excellent finds and nice history lesson!
Thanks!