🔎 UNIDENTIFIED Any idea what this bell or plate is from?

[Williamsce24]

The bell has a 3 on top I'm guessing that's the size? Found at a site that was on an 1890 map. Also anyone know what this plate thing is with the girl on it? Seems to have some kind of letters on the outer rim. Any info is appreciated!

 

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[Retired Sarge]

The slotted thing is the reed of a harmonica, and the plate thing is the case/outer portion of it.

 

[Back-of-the-boat]

The girl looks like something from butter or maybe a milk bottle top.

 

[Blackfoot58]

I really like the harmonica cover plate. I’ve not seen that exact one before. Is the bell brass with an iron ringer?

 

[UnderMiner]

If I had to guess I would wager that that bell is from a long since collapsed clock tower that once stood in a tiny village populated by pixies who unfortunately went extinct due to deforestation in the mid-late 19th century.

 

[Blackfoot58]

If I had to guess I would wager that that bell is from a long since collapsed clock tower that once stood in a tiny village populated by pixies who unfortunately went extinct due to deforestation in the mid-late 19th century.

The rural area beyond that village must have been known as “The Pixie Sticks”.

 

[Williamsce24]

I really like the harmonica cover plate. I’ve not seen that exact one before. Is the bell brass with an iron ringer?

Yea me too, those are the first harmonica pieces I've found, so it was cool to find the cover as well. And I'm not sure what the bell is made of, definitely an iron ringer though

 

[invent4hir]

Post a picture of the back. What size is the plate, what is it made of, and what if anything was found nearby? Are the letters you're referring to: 1) an R at 3 o'clock; 2) a 4 or A at 11 o'clock and; backwards R(?) at 10 o'clock? If so, they appear to be scratched in.

 

[Williamsce24]

Post a picture of the back. What size is the plate, what is it made of, and what if anything was found nearby? Are the letters you're referring to: 1) an R at 3 o'clock; 2) a 4 or A at 11 o'clock and; backwards R(?) at 10 o'clock? If so, they appear to be scratched in.

Yea those are what I'm referring to, that was my first thought too, scratched in not part of the design. The only things I found nearby were the other things in the post, bell and harmonica pieces, and an old pick axe head not pictured. And not sure what it's made of, possibly lead.

 

[invent4hir]

Possibly a small pewter dish or compote.

 

[Blackfoot58]

I wonder if it is zinc.

 

[pepperj]

The bell could be made of tombac, as it has that grayish silver colour.
The ringer might of been replaced with even a nut, hence the glob of rust.

 

[Sandog]

The girl looks like something from butter or maybe a milk bottle top

Vintage Blue Bonnet Sue from Blue Bonnet margarine or butter?

 

[invent4hir]

Blue Bonnet was my first guess also. However, that character appeared in the early 1940s and I think this artifact looks older.

 

[Gare]

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[mudwhale]

Vintage Blue Bonnet Sue from Blue Bonnet margarine or butter?

Blue Bonnet was my first guess also. However, that character appeared in the early 1940s and I think this artifact looks older.

That looks like the early Morton Salt girl.

 

[The Rebel]

The bell is a nice find, it's called a conastoga bell. They were used on wagons.

 

[BuckleBoy]

The bell has a 3 on top I'm guessing that's the size? Found at a site that was on an 1890 map. Also anyone know what this plate thing is with the girl on it? Seems to have some kind of letters on the outer rim. Any info is appreciated!

Your bell is made of bell metal (which is a type of copper alloy). It’s either from a wagon or from a servant call bell system. Best to familiarize with the various “cranks” and other paraphernalia associated with call bell systems because finding any other piece of the system would confirm the specific use of the bell. Most folks write these up as conestoga bells but most of them dug in affluent areas and slaveholding states were not. I discuss all of this in my upcoming relic ID book published by American Digger Magazine

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

The key ID-clue for your bell is its attachment-form... whose upper half is broken off. Note that it is shaped like a vertical short flat board with a single small hole drilled through it, for a short straight iron wire (or a bent-over small squarenail) which held the bell in place on a frame, along with several other identical bells. The photos below show how that worked. It is called a Hames-Bell. The blue writing on the horse-team photo calls attention to the bells on the Hames of each horse. They were often used on a Conestoga wagon team, but were also often used on other draft-horse teams... and also buggies, etc. Note the photo below showing a single mule harnessed with Hames-Bells.

Most of the examples of this type of Hames-Bells that I've seen are made of White Tombac, though some are the usual yellow brass alloy. Being White Tombac indicates they can date back at least as far as the very-early 1800s.

 

[Williamsce24]

The key ID-clue for the bell is its attachment-form... whose upper half is broken off. Note that it is shaped like a vertical short flat board with a single small hole drilled through it, for a short straight iron wire which held the bell in place on a frame, along with several other identical bells. The photos below show how that worked. It is called Hames-Bell. The blue writing on the horse-team photos calls attention to the bells on the Hames of each horse. They were often used on a Conestoga wagon team, but were also often used on other draft-horse teams... and also buggies, etc. Note the photo below showing a single mule harnessed with Hames-Bells.

Most of the examples of this type of Hames-Bells that I've seen are made of White Tombac, though some are the usual yellow brass alloy. Being White Tombac indicates they can date back at least as far as the very-early 1800s.

Thank you for the info! Great pictures , those help a lot