Two Gilded Harness Mounts - Even Seen or Found Similar Before?

[Erik in NJ]

Hi,

This summer up in MA I unearthed two of these about 5 feet from each other. Today on an older property that's being demolished, my first signal was the round rosette about 6" deep. Ornate design, appears to be pewter as it's crumbling and also appears to have been gilted.

On other side of house where more demolition has been, I found what I thought was a spur, but it seems to be another rosette in the shape of a 16 pointed star! Tiny inlays that resembled pearls, but are probably something else. This one was gilted too. Appears younger as there are two casting tabs. There seem to be three words cast into it -- last is a number 2802.

All of them so far have been approx. 2" x 2".

Any info on these would be greatly appreciated as I am trying to get an approximate timeframe. Are they pewter? How should I clean them? I don't want to destroy them. Thanks!

 

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[KRAZYHORSES]

Re: Short Hunt Yields Two Pewter Gilted Bridle Rosettes - Even Seen These Before?

congrats!!!! horse stuff is always nice to find! good luck and keep digging krazyhorses

 

[Erik in NJ]

Re: Short Hunt Yields Two Pewter Gilted Bridle Rosettes - Even Seen These Before?

Thanks brother! R u a Neil Young fan?? Any idea on the age of these rosettes? I was surprised by my first dig this afternoon.......as it looks old, but no old coins there yet. The star was right on the surface near the demo/construction, but the old strata have been seriously disturbed

 

[Erik in NJ]

Re: Short Hunt Yields Two Pewter Gilted Bridle Rosettes - Even Seen These Before?

Anything on these? Anyone found this style before? I'd be interested to know if they are made of pewter or lead (did they gilt lead) and an approx. timeframe for them, esp. the first one which looks older. Since no one has really posted any info, I'm assuming they're either very common or very uncommon. Like I said I found two similar rosettes to the first one in MA this summer.

Thanks for any info on these!

 

[Rick (Nova Scotia)]

Re: Short Hunt Yields Two Pewter Gilted Bridle Rosettes - Even Seen These Before?

I don't think I would clean the "star" one at all, it looks OK to me. Possibly a bit of lemon juice, which is what a friend of mine uses on guilt button he has found. With good resluts.

I found quite a decorative one this season myself, it is also quite crumbly. I'm not going to worry about cleaning it.

 

[kuger]

Re: Short Hunt Yields Two Pewter Gilted Bridle Rosettes - Even Seen These Before?

I dug the exact one....your first on pictured,but still am not convinced it is a rossette?Mine is rather large and pretty big too

 

[Erik in NJ]

Re: Short Hunt Yields Two Pewter Gilted Bridle Rosettes - Even Seen These Before?

Thanks guys for someone finally prviding some info. Rick, yours looks great....do you have a pic of the back

Here are the other two I dug this summer in MA.....also about 2" x 2":

 

[Erik in NJ]

Re: Short Hunt Yields Two Pewter Gilted Bridle Rosettes - Even Seen These Before?

I dug the exact one....your first on pictured,but still am not convinced it is a rossette?Mine is rather large and pretty big too

Can you post a pic of the front and back? I'd appreciate it. These things are still a mystery and to now have dug four!

 

[kuger]

Re: Short Hunt Yields Two Pewter Gilted Bridle Rosettes - Even Seen These Before?

I dug the exact one....your first on pictured,but still am not convinced it is a rossette?Mine is rather large and pretty big too

Can you post a pic of the front and back? I'd appreciate it. These things are still a mystery and to now have dug four!

I sure will,I just moved and they are packed away,but as soon as I find em I will.I would love to really verify what they were as well.Mine is exactly identical to yours

 

[Erik in NJ]

Re: Short Hunt Yields Two Pewter Gilted Bridle Rosettes - Even Seen These Before?

Thanks Kuger! I started a thread on th "What Is It?" forum as well.....you may want to kep an eye on that thread as well. Regards, Erik

I sure will,I just moved and they are packed away,but as soon as I find em I will.I would love to really verify what they were as well.Mine is exactly identical to yours

 

[Rick (Nova Scotia)]

Re: Two Gilted Harness Mounts - Even Seen or Found These Before?

Here is a pic of the back of mine if it is any help to you.

 

[Erik in NJ]

Re: Two Gilted Harness Mounts - Even Seen or Found These Before?

Thanks Rick! Yours is very ornate and a real beauty. Are there any traces of gilting on it? The lugs on the back are very similar to the lugs on my first one (second set of pics from MA and the one on the UK Finds Database).

I'm not sure where a harness mount (or harness boss) goes on a horse......anyone know?

 

[kuger]

Re: Two Gilted Harness Mounts - Even Seen or Found These Before?

Mine has the same back mount and does have signs of gilding.I am wondering if they werent belt decorations?I know it sounds crazy,but the back suggests a belt of sometype,and mine was found in an early California site.If you look at old photos of the Spanish Californio's they wore big gaudy items like these.I guess they could be tack adornment.I just cant see them being on a head stall(tack)

 

[PANNONIAN]

Great finds,congrats! I would look around little bit more in the area! Well done.

 

[Erik in NJ]

Thanks Pannonian! Nothing compared to your array of banner finds, but I appreciate your comments. I'll try and give the construction site a once over this weekend. Would have been an amazing site when they tore up the Tarmac early this summer, but I was quite busy at the time and missed it. Will give you a shout to scour the site with me before it's off limits again Seems you're not far from me. Congrats on your amazing finds again - travesty your horseman and the Celtic deer are not on the banner yet! Truly amazing!

 

[SusanInColumbia]

If these measure around 1 1/2-2" in diameter, I think they are rosettes and reallllllly good old ones at that! I'm a rosette collector and I think these may in fact be dated pre-1850, possibly even older (say late 18th century). These are a great find!!!

 

[SusanInColumbia]

I have a really good book on bridle rosettes and am going to research these and see what I can find out for you!

 

[Erik in NJ]

Rosettes

I have a really good book on bridle rosettes and am going to research these and see what I can find out for you!

Hi Susan! Thank you so much for the info and for doing some research on these. I can get better scans for you if you'd like. Please keep in touch via PM. The book sounds very interesting, would love to hear more about it. Since these two I have found two more in NJ and an amazing open work bridle boss on a British Island dating back to 1640! I can send you some scans of these too.

Best, Erik

 

[NJLargeCent]

Hi Erik, here are some pics of one I found (not very ornate) here in S. NJ. The pic of the concave back is very similar to others in this post. I cleaned it and it became very brittle.

 

[Erik in NJ]

Hi NJLC....how did you clean it? Mine are somewhat brittle too....I'm guessing they are made of pewter or lead. I also found an extremely ornate fragment of a candle snuffer which I believe of of similar composition (have not posted it yet). I have been soaking it in boiling peroxide, but there is still a lot of caked on dirt. I wonder if anyone has any additional tricks for cleaning this class of metal.

Regards, Erik