✅ SOLVED Strange lead item found at old creek

[Nathan6309]

Hey everybody! I was testing out a new creek near the town of Newport, Virginia, that has a lot of local history and I managed to find this. I almost passed on the signal, thinking it was a can, but I dug it anyway and this came out. The object appears to be made of lead, fans out at the base, and has a hole on one side of the base. There is a threaded key-like item at the top of a hook, which also has a hole through it. I have absolutely no idea what this is, so could anybody give me a hand? Thanks in advance.

 

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[Lenrac2]

Wow! You win! That is unusual! I hope someone knows!!

 

[detectorbishop]

that is a really awesome find. I really hope someone can ID this. Makes me want to dig everything I think is a can!

 

[HuntinDog]

That's a battery post/foot for the old acid bottle batteries.

 

[Nathan6309]

Bingo! That’s it! Never would have guessed that. Thanks huntindog for the ID and everybody else who helped come to this conclusion!

 

[islamoradamark]

nice chunk of lead good pictures too

 

[Lenrac2]

That's a battery post/foot for the old acid bottle batteries.

Great ID HuntinDog! That one was driving me crazy!!

 

[kblackphoto]

i found something similar with the ridges. just the fanned out part though, I thought it was some type of gear. wonder if its actually this.

 

[Nathan6309]

Though y’all might like to know that I did some more research on these “gravity cell” batteries and found that they dated to around the 1860s and were very popular for telegraph networks all the way through to the 1950s. The field that runs along the creek where this item was found used to be a union encampment back during the war, so this very well may have come from their camp operations.

Website for antique batteries:

History of the Battery - The First Battery Invented

www.historyofbatteries.com