Copper Plated Lead Disc from Colonial House (WII004)

[Erik in NJ]

I dug this several weeks ago at the colonial house that has produced so many nice coins and relics. Here's yeat another nice relic that upon clean-up (as a pleasant surprise) revealed an original copper or gold plating. Base metal appears to be lead. No marking on it on either side and it's symmetrical. Not sure if it's a poker chip, weight, or what. It weighs exactly 2.54 oz.

Any ideas on this one? Thanks!

 

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[Erik in NJ]

No ideas on this thing? It's pretty chunky--I'd imagine a bit too heavy for a poker chip. If it was a weight, I'm wondering why they'd go through the trouble of copper plating it--makes it almost look decorative. I was very surprised to see the copper plating after I applied some aluminum jelly to it. Would a weight typically be made out of iron?

 

[DCMatt]

I've been thinking about this one. Haven't come up with any viable guesses. Are you sure it is lead? It looks like pewter in the pics.

DCMatt

 

[BosnMate]

Were hem weights ever made round?

 

[Erik in NJ]

I've been thinking about this one. Haven't come up with any viable guesses. Are you sure it is lead? It looks like pewter in the pics.

DCMatt

Hi Matt, You might be right in that it's pewter or some lead alloy as you can see the pits where something is leeching out through the plating. Is it possible that's it's gilded or gold plated as opposed to it being copper? Appears to be a copper color under my loupe, but I would imagine that the copper would have oxidized by now and turned green, so it must be gilt.

 

[Erik in NJ]

Were hem weights ever made round?

Hi, I think it's way too heavy for a hem weight and there is no attachment point where it could have been sewn to a garment. Additionally I can't see why they would have gilded it if it were a hem weight.

As an aside: I guess I should change the title of the thread from "copper" to gilded, but I can never seem to figure out a way to change the the thread title....can anyone help here? Thanks.

 

[DCMatt]

I have not found any way to edit the thread title and make the change appear in the forum.

DCMatt

 

[Breezie]

The only items I can think of that are copper plated over pewter are jewelry pieces. There's really no other reason to plate copper over pewter. (I'm sure if there are other reasons, someone will chime in.) Is it possible there was a jewelry loop on the edge and it broke off with corrosion? Breezie

 

[Erik in NJ]

Thanks for the input. I don't believe anything has broken off of it and it's weight 2.54 oz. I think precludes it from being a jewelry piece as it's quite heavy for its size--both sides have the same central "indentation." At this point I'm not convinced it is copper plating as the copper did not turn green at all. Must be gilding of some sort that may have discolored a bit.

Paperweight?

 

[DCMatt]

If it is gold plated, the only reason stuff was plated back then was to "show it off" - like buttons or flatware... I can't think of any reason why someone would plate a pewter disc. I looked at coin and trade weights but none of them were plated and all had some kind of markings on them. I also considered plantation token but again, why bother plating it and not putting any markings on it? It is a quality piece that someone made for a speific purpose. It does not seem to be a "one off" item... I don't get it...

DCMatt

 

[DCMatt]

Any chance the plating is brass? If so maybe someting was embossed on the brass and is now worn away.

Just thinking out loud (or typing publicly, I guess...)

DCMatt

 

[taz42o]

Pic from an angle might help. Cant tell what the contour is like, Raised in the middle or indented? How thick?
Looks like a saucer for a teacup(toy).

 

[Breezie]

Pic from an angle might help. Cant tell what the contour is like, Raised in the middle or indented? How thick?
Looks like a saucer for a teacup(toy).

BINGO! Nice ID Taz on a miniature tea set! Of course the one below is not plated, but the same of the saucer is basically the same. Breezie

 

[Erik in NJ]

If it is gold plated, the only reason stuff was plated back then was to "show it off" - like buttons or flatware... I can't think of any reason why someone would plate a pewter disc. I looked at coin and trade weights but none of them were plated and all had some kind of markings on them. I also considered plantation token but again, why bother plating it and not putting any markings on it? It is a quality piece that someone made for a speific purpose. It does not seem to be a "one off" item... I don't get it...

DCMatt

Hi Matt!

Thank you for your mulling of this relic over in your mind. Even after cleaning it with soap and water I saw no gilding on it--as it still held a fair amount of dirt. Was only after dropping it in ACV for a while that I noticed something shiney coming through and then I applied a bit of aluminum jelly to see if I could reveal more gilding. I looks like the "gilding" has been impacted by the metal leeching out of the "pewter." I agree that the gilding was to show it off and it's odd that there are absolutely no markings on it. I will take a closer look with my 10x jeweler's loupe to see if I can find anything that I might be missing. There was a mill on the property and the original owners of this house must have been folks of some means means as they were a prominent family in the area. I'm convinced that if anyone can solve this puzzle it will be you. Thanks again for your input.

 

[Erik in NJ]

Any chance the plating is brass? If so maybe someting was embossed on the brass and is now worn away.

Just thinking out loud (or typing publicly, I guess...)

DCMatt

It might be brass -- I'm not quite sure how to tell. I will try and take some better pics with a 35mm digital camera as the scanner kind of distorts the coloring.

 

[Erik in NJ]

Pic from an angle might help. Cant tell what the contour is like, Raised in the middle or indented? How thick?
Looks like a saucer for a teacup(toy).

Hi Taz! Thanks for jumping in--you and Matt are both great at this research! I'll take some pics on an angle. I think the aestetics are such that the disc is too thick for a plate to a miniatute tea set--it just wouldn't look right as it's too chunky. The indentation on the disc is on both sides and it goes into the disc.

 

[Erik in NJ]

BINGO! Nice ID Taz on a miniature tea set! Of course the one below is not plated, but the same of the saucer is basically the same. Breezie

View attachment 733181

I agree that based on my scans it looks like it might be this, but I'll have to post some side and angle pics. I am convinced that it cannot be something like the plate it this photo (though thank you for the great attempt!!)--it's my fault for not posting better photos. The disc is a good 1/4" thich from the side if I were to guess (it's a very "chunky" little disc). I don't have it in front of me right now. And the indented area is on both sides--symmetrical. It's just a bit larger than 1-1/2 in diameter which would be a VERY tiny tea set as well.

 

[Breezie]

I agree that based on my scans it looks like it might be this, but I'll have to post some side and angle pics. I am convinced that it cannot be something like the plate it this photo (though thank you for the great attempt!!)--it's my fault for not posting better photos. The disc is a good 1/4" thich from the side if I were to guess (it's a very "chunky" little disc). I don't have it in front of me right now. And the indented area is on both sides--symmetrical. It's just a bit larger than 1-1/2 in diameter which would be a VERY tiny tea set as well.

Vintage dollhouse scales was generally either 1:12, which means 1 inch = 1 foot or either 1:24, which means 1/2 inch = 1 foot, so yes they were tiny. Hopefully you, Matt, and Taz can get it figured out. I look forward to the updates. Breezie

 

[DCMatt]

It might be brass -- I'm not quite sure how to tell. I will try and take some better pics with a 35mm digital camera as the scanner kind of distorts the coloring.

I'd like to see the edges as well.

DCMatt

 

[Erik in NJ]

I'd like to see the edges as well.

DCMatt

Hi Matt--I'll post some more detailed photos as soon as I have access to the item.