Round whatsit

[rasrandy]

Dug this today among other things.Its the size of a marble
with a crosscut and hollow inside.Probably copper.Im
curious as to its purpose.I can date the site to early
1900s. What do you think? HHs

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

A Handbook of Civil War Bullets and Cartridges - Grab it through Amazon!

[DigEmAll]

Looks like a jingle bell to me. Just in time for Christmas too!

 

[rasrandy]

Thats what i was thinking but theres no dingaling inside
and nothing to attach to anywhere.

 

[Southcacalaky]

May have been crimped on a piece of small rope? HH Art...

 

[JakePhelps]

Is the rest of it just plain round copper ball and then a handmade cut in it? Must be decrative right?

 

[rasrandy]

Jake---the rest is just plain and round.The cuts are clean and precise.

 

[civilman1]

JINGLE BELL!It's gotta be.....nice find anyway

 

[civilman1]

JINGLE BELL!It's gotta be.....nice find anyway

 

[Iowa Jack]

Yep. It's a jingle bell off of a horse harness. I have found a couple of them myself.

 

[Gypsy Heart]

Jingle Bells Jingle Bells Jingle all the way

 

[rasrandy]

I was cleaning it up and upon further inspection
there was a tiny hole on the bottom.My first jingle
bell find.Tks for your replies.HHs

 

[trk5capt]

It Has To Be A BeLL Off A Horse Harness trk5capt... 8)

 

[Pangus]

two things, first, it is a bell, and the missing rattle ball was probably made of wood or clay, usually not metal for its age.

Second, its a small jingle bell, and its hard to tell for certain but small bells like that were also once used for turkeys. Yes, turkeys. They had a small leather buckle strap around the turkey's ankle. Used by people that raised turkeys, and would walk them to town. (After all, refridgeration was almost non-existant at the time so why kill the animal if you couldn't sell it immediately.) So when it was getting dark at the end of the day, on the walk home you kept track of all your turkeys.

My grandmother has a couple of old ones that look similar.

But again, it could be to anything...still cool to find.

 

[crazyrandy]

it could be a steelie marble from the 1890's. they were hollow and had a X cut on them.

 

[DigEmAll]

I always thought that a steelie was just like a ball bearing, solid steel.

 

[rasrandy]

I did some research on steelies and found out that one type was solid and the other was hollowed out,filled with some type of gel and had an X cut on it.The X flaps were then folded back.I couldnt find out what was used to make them with.(steel, copper?)The hollow ones were handmade and the solid ones were machine made.I didnt grow up playing marbles but its still interesting though.HappyHunts