Strange Copper Piece

[paleomaxx]

Now that the weeds are dying down I went back to the tavern site for a bit more searching. I found another 1800's brass flat button, but I also found a couple of unusual pieces. My initial guess was that it's a maple tap, but if anyone else wants to chime in I'm all ears.



The brass disk was found close by. Not sure if it has anything to do with the copper piece but they were very close together in the same hole so I figured I'd post it too. At first I thought it was a coin, but there's absolutely no trace of any markings; besides the corrosion it's completely flat on both sides.

 

[hvacker]

Maybe a pipe reamer. What's it made of?

 

[paleomaxx]

Definitely copper. On the top there you can see there's a seam down one side of the circular piece so it was probably made from a thick flat sheet and then bent into shape. The cross piece looks like it was hammered down into place since I can't find any sign of welds or other melted metal marks.

 

[fano169]

The round disk sure does look like a coin , what's the size

 

[fano169]

The other could be a maple syrup tap

 

[jj358]

It looks like an old valve stem tool.

 

[A2coins]

Looks like a tree tap!!!!!

 

[paleomaxx]

The disk is pretty much exactly 1" in diameter. I've found tons of brass buttons and a few coins in the soil (all dated between 1800-1840) and the writing/details has been very well preserved in all of them. One of the buttons even still had the gilding so my assumption is that if it was a coin, the design would have been worn off before it was lost since the soil has had only a mild effect on the other relics.