Copper whatsit...found among other 1700s relics

[Evolution]

Copper whatsit...found among other 1700's relics

I found this piece at a colonial era site I was hunting last year. I believe it's copper. I was looking at it a little more closely today and it has what appears to be some sort of writing on it. It may not be writing but it is some type of inscription. Can anyone make out what this inscription is? I hope these pics come out OK. They may not show enough detail. I threw a quarter in for size comparison. Is this one for the junk box?

 

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[detector dave]

Re: Copper whatsit...found among other 1700's relics

It looks like a plat for a printing press? Hold it in front of a miror and see if you can read it. I have one about 3in by 8in brass with the lettering backword. Good luck I would keep it.

 

[Tavis]

Re: Copper whatsit...found among other 1700's relics

I took the image and flipped it around, revered, rotated by degrees, everything I could think of. I'm sure its letters, but damned if I can read them.

 

[Evolution]

Re: Copper whatsit...found among other 1700's relics

I held it up in front of a mirror. Still cant read it. The writing is just too faint.

 

[BuckleBoy]

Re: Copper whatsit...found among other 1700's relics

Notice that most right-handed peoples' handwriting slants to the right.  In all of your photos, the writing slants to the left.  So I think maybe the photo orientation is wrong...

A technique that I've found for cleaning brass to leave the letters visible is to take a toothpick parallel to the surface (using the flat "side" of the toothpick) and rub it back and forth, as if making a charcoal drawing.  It leaves the verdegris in the grooves of the markings, but removes the verdegris elsewhere.  This looks like it has already been toothbrushed with water...  If so, some of the verdegris from the "grooves" of the writing is already gone, making it more difficult to read.  The technique I mention works extremely well for cleaning flat buttons so that their back marks are visible... I don't know how well it would work for something so lightly tooled...so use it at your own risk. 

Before we even get into that...have you tried making a charcoal rubbing of the plate?  That might actually tell you more about the markings than the naked eye or a photo can. Is there anything on the back of the plate?


Regards,


Buckleboy

 

[smokedaddy]

Re: Copper whatsit...found among other 1700's relics

I dug one that is similar. It is a Copper plate for a press as stated by the other member. Mine reads the following in a mirror. (Margaret EH Clark) . Now, if yours reads Margaret EH Clark in a mirror, we might have something interesting. Although I doubt it. Anyway, Mine had my heart pounding as I bet yours was too, as I was digging. They look just like a belt plate in the dirt.

 

[watercolor]

Re: Copper whatsit...found among other 1700's relics

I think the etching/printing plate idea is pretty much on track. . . here's a reverse of your image that may help. . . neat find!

 

[BuckleBoy]

Re: Copper whatsit...found among other 1700's relics

After I made my previous post about the slant of the handwriting and the orientation of the photo, I realized that there was no way you could orient the photo so that the handwriting would slant up to the right...

So case in point, I think "etching plate" is an Excellent ID for this one. After the mirror-image reversal of the photo, the writing slants the correct way....


I still can't read it though


-Buckleboy

 

[levis_dad]

Re: Copper whatsit...found among other 1700's relics

Why not try to put the photo into negative format...you know like picture negatives. It may help or it may not, just an idea.

 

[Evolution]

Re: Copper whatsit...found among other 1700's relics

I dug one that is similar. It is a Copper plate for a press as stated by the other member. Mine reads the following in a mirror. (Margaret EH Clark) . Now, if yours reads Margaret EH Clark in a mirror, we might have something interesting. Although I doubt it. Anyway, Mine had my heart pounding as I bet yours was too, as I was digging. They look just like a belt plate in the dirt.

I was thinking the same thing. A piece of a belt plate. I still like the find, even though I cant read the darn thing.

 

[eathan]

Re: Copper whatsit...found among other 1700's relics

I'd be tempted to take it down to a local school and run it through a press.

Here's a quick monkey with photoshop. Not a lot clearer, but maybe it'll help with reading what it says.

 

[AKiwi]

Re: Copper whatsit...found among other 1700's relics

Have you tried laying a piece of rice paper on top of it and thenrub over the area with a soft lead pencil?
Like a rubbing
Cheers

 

[Merf]

Re: Copper whatsit...found among other 1700's relics

That is a neat find EV----Looks like maybe a persons name on it.