Not Gold But Still Cool!

[TAZMAN1972]

I went out to a field near me that has yielded lots of gold over the years but not much recently.  There is still gold there, but it is few and far between.  I had my 7000 and Whites GMT.  I was in an area that was just packed with trash so I pulled out the whites to try to pick through it and find some non-ferrous targets.  I guess there was just too much iron in the soil because lead bullets and even my gold sample glued to a poker chip showed 50-75% on the iron scale.   I had found a stirrup in this area two years ago, and since I really couldn't distinguish ferrous from non-ferrous targets I figured I would look for some relics.  I soon found a screaming target louder than the rest.  I pulled it out and it was a small piece of cast iron that I could barely make out the numbers 1776.  I knew their was no way it could actually be from 1776 though.  I kept digging in the area and then found the other half to the first piece and it looked like the handle to a derringer.  This was pretty exciting so I kept digging the area and found 4 more pieces, the hammer, two halves of a barrel and another piece that I could not tell what it was.  I could tell that it was not a real gun, just a toy, since the barrel was in two halves.  When I got home I did a web search and found examples of the toy in just a few minutes!  It ended up being a cap pistol made in 1876 for the centennial.  The other side of the handle has 1876 on it but it is too rusted to make out. Here is a short description of the cap gun and pics of some in good shape, with my find at the bottom.  The picturs are of the S1.1.1 but I measured mine and since it is about 5.25" long it looks like it is the S1.1.2.  Since I don't look for relics, I usually don't find them.  Even though it was not gold and it is rusted and broken this is one of my coolest finds and it was pretty neat to find out exactly what it was.

 

Stevens "1776 - 1876" Centennial Cast Iron Cap Gun made in 1876 S1.1.1 with a three star rating for rarity as described in the book Cast Iron Toy Guns and Capshooters by Samuel H. Logan and Charles W. Best. The Stevens "1776 - 1876" is a single shot single action capshooter. There are two that are almost exactly the same and they are identified as S1.1.1 and S1.1.2 in the book Cast Iron Toy Guns and Capshooters by Samuel H. Logan and Charles W. Best. The only difference between the two is the size. This one is the smaller of the two by 1/2 of an inch. It is 4.75 inches in length.

 

[Rick Watkins]

Very cool find, i have found 2 or 3 cap guns but not near that old.

RICK

[deathray]

Cool find and nice research on it!

[Swifty]

Very Nice Find

[TAZMAN1972]

Thanks guys!  I just keep wondering why was this cap gun out in this field?  I have found hundreds of sq nails, horseshoes, and the stirrup there too.  I wonder if the miners had a camp there right next to the gold and this was a stable or corral and one of the kids was playing in the corral and dropped his gun and then a horse stepped on it and crushed it?  I could just make up scenarios all day and it is fun to think about. I am going to go back and see if I can find the trigger and the other half of the cylinder.

Tobin