Rare odds...

Wes213 · Mar 23, 2017

Usually most things I find really do not have a interesting story behind them. This one is a rare exception. I was digging and found the first piece, I kept it knowing it was just a broken piece. I found the second half about six inches away in the ground. It took me a few minutes to connect the dots, but when I put them together it was a perfect fit and made of chert, very rare for me as most of what I find is Quartz. The last picture is the point cleaned up and glued together. If anyone has any similar pieces I would love to see them. Thanks.

crj1968 · Mar 23, 2017

Wow that is so cool....I still stop by a certain place looking for a missing tip.

What is that last picture? Same point but (

?)

fyrffytr1 · Mar 23, 2017

That is neat!

Wes213 · Mar 23, 2017

crj1968 said:
Wow that is so cool....I still stop by a certain place looking for a missing tip.

What is that last picture? Same point but (?)

Sorry the last picture is the same point cleaned up.

BearCreek · Mar 23, 2017

What are the odds on that! It looks great put back together and love the material!

Tnmountains · Mar 23, 2017

I have yet to ever find a broken other half though I sure have clunked a few in half with a shovel . Nice save.

creekhunter · Mar 24, 2017

That is super cool! We keep our broken finds sorted by site just in case, but it's extremely rare to find both halves!

The Grim Reaper · Mar 24, 2017

I found this one a while back when my son and I were walking the banks of the Ohio River. I found the base up high on the bank and saw that it had broken through the fossil inclusion. We walked down by the edge on river, about 35 feet away, and I saw the tip laying there by the waters edge. As soon as I saw the fossil in the tip I knew it would fit and it does perfectly. Only one I have ever put together in 52 years of hunting.

jamey · Mar 24, 2017

i put a couple back together before,one was like two or three years apart,a big benton.

Wes213 · Mar 24, 2017

The Grim Reaper said:
I found this one a while back when my son and I were walking the banks of the Ohio River. I found the base up high on the bank and saw that it had broken through the fossil inclusion. We walked down by the edge on river, about 35 feet away, and I saw the tip laying there by the waters edge. As soon as I saw the fossil in the tip I knew it would fit and it does perfectly. Only one I have ever put together in 52 years of hunting.

Thanks for sharing Grim, I really appreciate! Great find on your part.

Charl · Mar 25, 2017

I've been lucky enough to match up pieces 3 times while surface hunting. Several more times while digging a site. But here are the three I matched up surface hunting.

In the first one, I found the base piece in the first row of a corn field on my first hunt there. It became my favorite field, my personal field of dreams. 10 years to the week, in the same first row, I found the top piece. This point has a somewhat uncommon diamond cross section, and as soon as I found the tip section, I knew immediately, even though 10 years had passed, that I had the base at home. You can see a patina difference between the small basal fragment, and the rest of the point.

The second point, an Orient Fishtail was found several years apart, in the same field. My wife repaired it when I was not looking. I wish she had done a better job, but, oh well, it's just a point.

The third one may be the most improbable. That's because it was found on a huge sand bar in Narragansett Bay that can only be walked during extreme low moon tides. Found the tip, and 5 years later the base. On the way home, said to my wife "I think we have a piece of this material from that sand bar." Sure enough. In the last photo, you can see there must have been a vein of material, which must have been a point of weakness. The point broke when that vein must have popped out.

Charl · Mar 25, 2017

Actually, there is a 4th piece I matched up surface hunting. This is a thin slab of New England chlorite/steatite. Only thing I can figure is the native was working on a pendant, or perhaps a gorget? Found many years apart in two widely separated fields on the same farm as the first two points above. I think because they were found in different fields, I did not immediately think of the first half when I found the second half. But my wife did. She dug out the first piece, and it sure did surprise me.

Charl · Mar 25, 2017

I think I've been lucky, beating the odds with the pieces above, and as many times as I have. But, not as lucky as this guy from Ma., and all at one site over a 35 year period. Now this is beating the odds and then some!! You can read his story at this link, in the story entitled "Matching Can Be Fun".

http://library.bridgew.edu/exhibits/BMAS/pdf/MAS-v42n02.pdf