can anyone ID this brass object?

[john845]

I went for a quick hunt today in a small wooded area along some railroad tracks. I dug this up its made of brass and weighs about 3 lbs. The marks on the front are A 1 3 2 2 . there is also a square hole in the back. I was thinking its might be railroad related. Can anyone tell me what this is?

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

A Handbook of Civil War Bullets and Cartridges - Grab it through Amazon!

[creskol]

It looks like a portion of an old porcelain or glass doorknob core with the set-screw attachment flange broken off, except it appears to be way too big for that.

 

[Tony in SC]

Looks kinda like the weight from the arm of a steam/air pop off valve. The very early valves did not use a spring, they used an arm with a weight for high pressure release.

 

[john845]

i was thinking it might be some sort of weight