Big tombac and bag seal? made into sinker?

[Skrimpy]

Site we've been to many times. Posted a few finds from there. Today found a few buttons, no coins and these...Not sure what to make of the lead. Any ideas what this is or what it was used for? Looks a little like a seal of some kind. Anyone ever seen a tombac that big? It's a little bigger than a quarter. maybe about the size of susan b anthony.

 

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[TheCannonballGuy]

Skrimpy wrote:
> Anyone ever seen a tombac that big? It's a little bigger than a quarter.

I've dug some of that size at Colonial Era sites here in Virginia.

By the way... the proper name for it is a "White-Tombac" button. Ordinary Tombac is an orange-ish/golden alloy of 85% copper with 15% zinc. The addition of just 1% or 2% of arsenic (which is actually a metal) changes the alloy's color to dull-silver-looking, and it is called White-Tombac. That's what you've got. For color comparison, see the photo below, which shows a Canadian 5-cent coin made of ordinary Tombac. Tombac - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Interestingly, the presence of a trace of arsenic seems to prevent the usual dug-patina from forming on White-Tombac buttons, even though the ones we dig have been in the ground for around 200 years. I've pulled them out of the dirt looking just as shiny as the day they were lost.

 

[Silver Searcher]

The lead seal is for electrical use I believe, the holes are were the wire passes through.

SS