Cache hunting question?

[swizzle]

I found a rough chunck of quartz in the corner of a stone wall by an old cellar hole. Below it was an almost perfectly round stone. My dad says it looks like a stone cannonball and its about the right size but why would it be under a rock and not on display? The quartz is the only hunk of quartz I see in the area. Its about the size of a basketball. Its also next to what appears to be a large bush or hedge that was cut down some years back. There is a flat piece of metal that looks like the back of a mattox(the squared off end), only its longer and thinner and has a hole drilled into the end. I will get pics of that later as it is still locked in ice. I'm not sure how much of it is actually showing. There is also what appears to be melted glass in the hole, about a foot down. The glass is still locked in ice as well. What do you make of all this? I detected the hole but as far as I can tell the only signal I'm getting is from the metal band/blade thing that's sticking out. Is it possible That I might have to dig deeper or another location closeby? An feedback is appreciated. Swiz

 

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[gldhntr]

when all else fails, DIGG..........

 

[swizzle]

Here's the pic.

 

[swizzle]

one more

 

[Siegfried Schlagrule]

In the early days in Europe they did use stone cannon balls. Whether they were ever used here I don't know. We did have a navy ship that got stranded inland in the desert after it got hit by as tidal wave that lost all their cannon balls in the storm so they fought off the arabs with cheese shot out of the cannon. Worked pretty good and ran the pirates off. Didn't saw if it was limberger cheese or not. exanimo, ss

 

[gldhntr]

i have read that the confederates used them when they had nothing else available as when grant was tightening the noose around petersburg and also richmond....ss i believe i would rather have the rocks shot at me but some of the rebs were quite hungry so they might not have minded so much......gldhntr

 

[swizzle]

This was found in upstate ny. One guy in another forum (Pappy) says its a ballast sone for equally out the weight in a wagon load. Depending on the load it'd probably take quite a few to balance it out. This thing only weighs about 2lbs. It seems like in the old westerns i've seen leather bags hanging on the outside of the wagons full of small round objects. I always thought it was fruit and never paid much attention. It is possible that it could be a ballast stone, I'm still hoping for cannonball though. Anyone know where I can take/send it for verifacation? Swiz

 

[Badger Bart]

Check with a few historcal societies, an archaeologist at a University, eBay, and google ballast. If you find out, let us know.

 

[countrykid]

On the history channel I heard the confederates would shot scrap metal, and wood fragment, when supplies were low.

 

[eggilbert]

I've collected stones like this, in New Mexico, that turned
out to be geods. I don't know what's available in NY.
In Old Mexico they are sometimes refered to as Coconuts,
these are also geods.

 

[swizzle]

Its definately not a geode. Its a solid river rock. Haven't found anything out just yet but I know of an Indian store that is ran by an elder of the mohawk tribe. I'll let you know what I find out. Swiz

 

[SASQUASH]

That is the size of the ones I have found around the SO. CAL. area the museum says thay where used as toy balls by the indain kids for sum kind of game. I have found smaller one's but raer to find them biger. I have heard of cach's of 20 or 30 small one's being found in an old live oak. SASQUASH<><

 

[Kentucky Kache]

This was found in upstate ny. One guy in another forum (Pappy) says its a ballast sone for equally out the weight in a wagon load. Depending on the load it'd probably take quite a few to balance it out. This thing only weighs about 2lbs. It seems like in the old westerns i've seen leather bags hanging on the outside of the wagons full of small round objects. I always thought it was fruit and never paid much attention. It is possible that it could be a ballast stone, I'm still hoping for cannonball though. Anyone know where I can take/send it for verifacation? Swiz

If they needed ballast stones, why wouldn't they use ordinary rocks? so, who made them round, and why?

 

[detectordave]

It looks about the size that kidney stones feel...maybe it was passed by a cowboy.

 

[Kentucky Kache]

OUCH!

 

[swizzle]

Oh I'm sorry I almost forgot about this post. The metal piece was actually a suspension spring for a trailer or old car. I also found a mattox head and a splitting wedge. I noticed two spots on the stone wall that looked like they had been dug out. I think that there was a cache or 2 and they were already pulled out. I did find a late 1800's to early 1900's bottle dump that I've been playing in on the property. Nothing great yet but I just started it this weekend. I'm still using the property as a test spot to look for a variety of different treasures. From caches to silver to bottles and relics too. Its not the best spot in the world but it sure is fun. Swiz