1800s House Site Wrap Up

[F350Platinum]

Finally finished a grid search of an 1800s house site on the farm in front of my house. Yesterday was in the 50s, but there was a cold 20mph wind blowing the whole time. I had set up the coordinates in Tect-O-Trak based on some stakes in the field that were really old, and searched around it before beginning to verify, literally found nothing outside the plot I set. I was kinda disappointed that I didn't find more stuff but what I did find was pretty cool for someone new to this. As seen in the photo I only found two coins, a Buffalo Nickel with no date, and a 1930 wheat penny. The Eagle D button (not shown) and the bulb-shaped object were the most interesting, as is the horse rein guide (thanks to Georgiadigger who identified it for someone in another post). I had a guest who may identify himself at some point, he found some interesting things too. Mostly I found roof metal and steel, and some tin cans. It was a very trashy site. The bottle cap is from a bottle of Phenobarbital ca. 1941. Yikes! Strong contrast to the 16/1700s finds on the other side of the road. Headed back there soon. Oh, and I found a LOT of those brass grommets 😀

[Rick N. MI]

Nice hunt. What is that knob thing in the top right corner? It looks interesting.

[F350Platinum]

5 minutes ago, Rick N. MI said:

What is that knob thing in the top right corner? It looks interesting.

I posted it before, guesses are a broken bedpost finial, a cane topper, or a curtain rod end. It weighs about 8 ounces, and appears to be solid bronze or brass. It has no attachment point at its base, no evidence of screw or hole for a rod. It seems a French design, having a row of Fleur de Lis at the base. I also thought at first it was an ox knob but for the same reasons it isn't. 🤔 It's probably going to end up a cane topper, I'm getting old! 😀 That is of course if I decide it isn't worth anything.

[rvpopeye]

Well , it would save you the price of a cane topper. 

So start there and price up if you like it.  

 

 

[Rick N. MI]

Yes there is value in a cane.

[GB_Amateur]

5 hours ago, F350Platinum said:

...Guesses are a broken bedpost finial, a cane topper, or a curtain rod end. It weighs about 8 ounces, and appears to be solid bronze or brass. It has no attachment point at its base, no evidence of screw or hole for a rod.

And no sign of it having broken off?  Very strange that a standalone object like this would have been made so long ago since people were more practical back then.  Today we get all kinds of woo-woo things made for suckers to buy.  Hope you figure out what it is or can make something out of it, but regardless it's a pretty neat looking find.

Grommets?  Those can sound so good and then make us feel so bad when we recover them. 

[F350Platinum]

5 hours ago, GB_Amateur said:

And no sign of it having broken off? 

 

It sheared off rather cleanly, must have taken quite some force. This photo shows the base of it. No sign of being sawn or clipped, just broken. I have no idea how brittle bronze can be. It's solid all the way through. I'm considering grinding it flat and tapping it for a double ended screw of some sort, then matching it with a wood staff after polishing it.

[Guest calabash digger]

Nice!

[Rick N. MI]

It is nice looking piece well worth doing.

[GaryC/Oregon Coast]

I dug about 30-40 grommets at one small 25' x 25' site a few years ago.  I couldn't figure out what was going on with all the detached grommets?  Talked to a local old timer detectorist and found out the Boy Scouts used that area to do their yearly retiring flag cremonies (they burned the flags).  GaryC/Oregon Coast