Your Most Unusual (identified) Relics.

[Bootscrape]

I’m curious to see what unusual relics all you seasoned hunters have recovered over time.

This is my favourite oddity..... a late 1800’s brass spike from a Pickelhaube (pith helmet). South Australian police uniform issue.

 

[Doc Bach]

That is a very cool relic.... However a good example of where one should be extra cautious about sitting on their helmet for whatever reason.

[JCR]

That must be why it is bent.

[Chase Goldman]

This is a 17th to 18th century tobacco pipe tamper (above a fancy colonial flat button) with a hand grasping a scroll symbology meaning the pipe bearer was likely highly educated.

[Glenn in CO]

Found this item at old coal mining camp in southern Colorado. Just think if it could tell all the stories it heard while miners were playing pool.

[Bootscrape]

34 minutes ago, Chase Goldman said:

This is a 17th to 18th century tobacco pipe tamper (above a fancy colonial flat button) with a hand grasping a scroll symbology meaning the pipe bearer was likely highly educated.

That’s a sweet find there Chase..... no thoughts of giving it a cleanup? Or do you keep them as is.

[Bootscrape]

16 minutes ago, Glenn in CO said:

Found this item at old coal mining camp in southern Colorado. Just think if it could tell all the stories it heard while miners were playing pool.

Nice Glenn.... yeah I love those old makers plates, real stories attached to them.

Here is one I unearthed in an old farm site. Coach builder’s plate.

 

[F350Platinum]

Heavy cast brass breastplate, era unknown, 3 human figures with some sort of animal cavorting below a bearded head with outstretched hands.

[Chase Goldman]

10 hours ago, Bootscrape said:

That’s a sweet find there Chase..... no thoughts of giving it a cleanup? Or do you keep them as is.

I'll clean brass to get obvious loose dirt off, if it can bring out more design detail, help with identification and the risk/consequence of damage is low. Otherwise, I've found that leaving something like that as is helps preserve the patina and character of the find, especially if it is uncommon and if I don't want to risk damage.

I also tend to not "repair" damaged finds, preferring to leave them as I found them.  Here are two examples: a split Eagle Breast Plate and a fractured pure silver shoe/sash buckle.  I was just happy in both cases to retrieve all pieces of these relics from the field.

 

BTW I consider some relics unusual not because of what they are but because of where they were found.

Here's a Two Cent piece I found in the fill sand on a public beach that certainly did not exist in the mid-1800's (probably was dropped wherever the fill originated from).  Was totally unexpected.

 

Here's a First Republic of Mexico 1830 Half Reale I found in an Eastern PA cornfield:

Here's a CW Era Navy Button found in a random VA cornfield far from any Navigable body of water (perhaps dropped by a previous landowner who served or a sailor who was participating in the CW engagements in the area).

Similar Story with this North Carolina Regimental Coat Button found in Virginia's Northern Neck far from any CW engagement activity.

 

Sometimes I wish these relics could talk so they could tell us how they came to end up in the places where they were found.

 

[JCR]

Complete early-mid 1800's Pod Auger in very good condition. Found at a inland riverport townsite.