6 Years Later I still Dont Know What it is...

[HollandsBrook]

I dug this about 6 years ago and have been posting on forums every so often hoping someone could ID it for me. Thanks to everyone who have given an opinion

This was dug about 100 yards from some colonial foundation ruins where I've also dug plenty of colonial relics. This is just a neat piece that I'm just dying to know what it is. Any and all guesses are welcome!

Size: about the size of a morgan dollar and quite thick.
Weight: 2.6 ounces
Metal: i thought it might be lead given it's weight but it rings at 12-43 / 12-45 on the CTX.
Non-magnetic

The most confusing part is the older looking markings on the front but the newer, possibly machine-made holes on the back.

 

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[voodoo]

strange.... I'll show this to my old friend. he is a history teacher and an avid metal detector for several decades. Give me a few.

 

[Pointman]

I think its lead and could have been used as a backing to punch holes in leather, hence the holes.

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

As a guess: looks like someone was using it to protect the surface of a workbench when setting rivets into washers before pounding them flat.

 

[cudamark]

All good possibilities, When I need to pound or press on a threaded shaft, I always used a soft piece of metal or wood to protect the end of the shaft and/or threads. Maybe that is what that piece of metal was used for.

 

[wstgo]

Could this thing have started out as a scale weight then used for something else?

 

[voodoo]

sorry for the late reply, no luck. However I think I have to agree with Charlie on this one.

 

[BosnMate]

Before electric drills we had the brace and bit.

This was called the "brace."
And this was the "bit," and drilled a hand cranked hole.

Note the tip on the bit. A sharp pointed screw, and then the spur for keeping the side of the hole trim, while the cutting edge cut out the wood.
It looks to me like someone was drilling something with one of those drills, and the soft lead or pewter was use to back the job, so that it wouldn't cut into the bench or what ever the job was sitting on while being drilled. The screw caused the hole, and the spur did the little circle before he quit drilling. Also he could have cut a clean hole, because the drill cut all the way through instead of splintering the last little bit of wood. What it was before that would be anyone's guess.
Here is a better of the tip of the drill.

 

[ConceptualizedNetherlandr]

Can you give us a density?

 

[Pointman]

Probably not a rivet setter because you need a strong backing to mushroom the end of the rivet.

 

[Slingshot]

I think like Pointman, that was used as a backing device for doing some kind of work.

 

[Mud Hut]

I was told that it has something to do with sewing, although I haven't been able to verify that yet. However, I did find a bone sewing tool that has the same style circles on it, that supposedly dates to the 17th century.
They might have served in the same capacity as an old "Sailors Palm" sail-maker's tool.

 

[Jarl]

Pointman might be on to something...now my thought in regards to his suggestion is the scratchings on the other side might be for measuring...so maybe what ever holes were being bore each notch could be spaced and marked in the material by rolling the disc along it's end. Maybe roll it on it's side and mark out where each notch ends up.

 

[Jarl]

Or as Cudamark is suggesting, maybe it's a crude form of a thimble. I guess that would explain the scratches on the back?? From force of pressing the thumbnail or fingernails into the material.

 

[Mud Hut]

Or as Cudamark is suggesting, maybe it's a crude form of a thimble. I guess that would explain the scratches on the back?? From force of pressing the thumbnail or fingernails into the material.

I am not seeing where that was suggested?

 

[jrwill56]

In the day we would melt lead into snuff can lids, when cooled we would take them out mark 2 with an X and leave 2 plane, take the lightest one, and remove weight with a drill
from the other 3 to make all the same weight. they were called pitches,for a game called pitch. You play the same rules as horseshoes, but you cut a hole 2" deep in hard ground 20 ft apart the same size as the pitch.these games were very competitive and we had tournaments at the pig pickings. loved it.

 

[Pointman]

I am not seeing where that was suggested?

What they are referring to is when you push a sewing needle through a hard piece of material such as canvas or leather, you need to have something behind the needle head to push it through. Otherwise, it will punch through your skin.

 

[goldenoldie]

What they are referring to is when you push a sewing needle through a hard piece of material such as canvas or leather, you need to have something behind the needle head to push it through. Otherwise, it will punch through your skin.

Hi what you refer to over hear in the UK, we call them a palm guard . The really old ones that turn up over hear are usually made from lead. but any hard material could have been used

 

[cudamark]

Before electric drills we had the brace and bit.
View attachment 1099950
This was called the "brace."
And this was the "bit," and drilled a hand cranked hole.
View attachment 1099951
Note the tip on the bit. A sharp pointed screw, and then the spur for keeping the side of the hole trim, while the cutting edge cut out the wood.
It looks to me like someone was drilling something with one of those drills, and the soft lead or pewter was use to back the job, so that it wouldn't cut into the bench or what ever the job was sitting on while being drilled. The screw caused the hole, and the spur did the little circle before he quit drilling. Also he could have cut a clean hole, because the drill cut all the way through instead of splintering the last little bit of wood. What it was before that would be anyone's guess.
Here is a better of the tip of the drill.
View attachment 1099955

I might agree except for a couple of reasons. First, whenever I used a brace and bit and wanted a clean cut hole, I'd use a piece of scrap wood to back it, not a piece of metal. Second, if you look at all the "holes" in the piece, a few don't have a deep tapered hole in the middle but still have the outer cut left by the spur. The only way that could happen is if the tapered pilot broke off.....but then why would you use it? They're too hard to keep centered without it.