Carved lead whatsit found with military items crica 1750-1800.

[IndianRiverSonrise]

The item was found close to the military buttons and items which I asked about in earlier posts. It appears to be crudely carved and made of lead. I would guess that it was just ornamental except that it looks like it was once attached to a small rod on the bottom (shown in far right picture). It looks like traces of iron oxide around the hole. The item is about 1.5 inches long.

Any and all help is appreciated.

 

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[Montana Jim]

I will agree it's a carved lead piece... to what? Who knows!

Possible game piece.

Possible finial for ?.

The probability is that it is/was a bullet to begin with.

Very interesting and cool find... that sure is a keeper and conversation piece!

 

[Peerless67]

early dum dum bullet?

 

[ivan salis]

broken lead tip off a iron rod type device that as "scrap metal" was carved on by a bored soldier -- thats my guess --looks like it might have been going to be a chess piece maybe at one time--

 

[IndianRiverSonrise]

This is great. Between the ideas I get here, and what I learn in the research that it points me to, I'm enjoying the hunt all over again and getting a good idea of what might have taken place there.

The items were found on a very steep hillside overlooking the ocean. Just above the cliff was a cannon. You can see the leveled off area and part of a stone wall that is still there. It was so steep that crabs on the hillside pulled back into their shell as I approached and rolled a couple hundred feet down the cliff and into the water. I thought that was amusing.

But from the pattern of objects located on that hillside, it appears to me that some real chaos took place there... broken musket parts, musket balls, buttons, grapeshot and various other objects scattered about. Research verifies that. I learned that one of the buttons came from the 76th Foot, who were used as marines, and I can imagine them trying to take that hill as they eventually did from the French. Also from buttons found, it seems the 54th Foot was also there.

Thanks for the ideas. Keep them coming.

By the way, I read the dum dum was invented in India, and as I recall the 76th spent a good amount of time there. Is there a connection? Anyhow, even though I am completely ignorant about military artifacts of this period, I am enjoying the process of learning about it.

 

[BuckleBoy]

I strongly feel that what you have here is a carved toy cannon for the kids. Excellent OLD find! It doesn't look like it would've been a working one, but it may have at one time been attached to wooden wheels. Perhaps what looks like iron oxide is really a gunpowder mark from someone putting a few grains in the nose of the toy and firing it up? Couldn't have been much, since it is made of lead.

Cheers!

Buckleboy

 

[Monty]

I think Buckle Boy is onto something. It does look like a crudely carved toy cannon. Something a soldier away from family might have done in his spare time. Monty

 

[Jim West Pa]

Tim, if there is apiece broken of of oyur object at the bottom, acocrding to position in yer pic,what you have could very well be a handmade pencil. The tip is broken off, or even worn down.

 

[Rob66]

I strongly feel that what you have here is a carved toy cannon for the kids. Excellent OLD find! It doesn't look like it would've been a working one, but it may have at one time been attached to wooden wheels. Perhaps what looks like iron oxide is really a gunpowder mark from someone putting a few grains in the nose of the toy and firing it up? Couldn't have been much, since it is made of lead.

Cheers!

Buckleboy

Ya....on that!!!!

 

[romeo-1]

Definitely a toy cannon...an excellent find!!!

 

[Montana Jim]

Definitely a toy cannon...an excellent find!!!

I don't know about definitly - but looking at it again, man - I can see some of those toy lead cannons on a toy ship! Or a kid playing with one on little wheels... buckles may be right!

 

[BuckleBoy]

I don't know whether or not it was Crusader or one of our other European Tnet members, but someone found a toy cannon this year. Perhaps someone with a search feature can find a link to that post...

Regards,

Buckleboy

 

[IndianRiverSonrise]

After reading the last few posts, I took a good look in the hole with my loop. The object is encrusted a bit, especially in the hole so I can't really tell how deep the hole is because of the encrustation or whatever, but I surprisingly did not see anything to convince me that it ever held a rod, as I once thought it probably did. I'm tempted to scrape it out to see if there are any remnants or other signs of something like a rod having been there, but I've destroyed so many nice things that I'm hesitant to do that until I am sure I know exactly how I want to go about it. The small piece of rust is more on the outside lip rather than in the hole. I am not so certain now that the object was ever on a rod and the toy cannon idea is gaining ground with me. The one thing that in my mind does not support the cannon hypothesis is the lip around the hole that looks like it was formed to fit snug around something that was inserted into the hole like maybe a rod or a pencil lead. I would not think that the lip would be there if it was a cannon or a chess piece. In either of those cases, I would expect the end to be rather blunt or in the case of a chess piece, flat. I might have to get out a dental pick to gently remove some of the crust or dirt that might be in the hole. That might have to wait though, as I have a little expedition planned for the near future.

Thanks guys.