Found on beach. Old Spearhead?

[rallenjr]

I was walking on the beach near Neah Bay, WA, looking for cool, unusual rocks and came across a spot that didn't look like the area around it. The area was just at the point the tides have been eroding away at the rocky beach.

After digging around the spot of rusty, orange sand and rocks the rocks looked melted together. My first thought was melted metal from bonfire but the material holding the rocks together wasn't metal.

I pulled up one hunk of rocks and a metal nail like pulled out of a hole in the other hunk of material. It reeked of some type of decay also. I pulled the nail thing out and it had a little section of rust on it and the rest was either shiny metal or covered in black muck.

Once I got it home I washed the spikey and noticed a cylindrical canal traveling through the hard, petrified like material around the soft mushy decaying. The spike immediately rusted. It definitely looks hand forged.

I believe it was there awhile for the material to petrify around it and only recently did the seawater begin to corrode the metal.

My thoughts are some sort of harpoon or spear but I want to make sure if it's some sort of artifact it can find a proper home.

Thanks in advance.

 

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[DizzyDigger]

Rallen, I would suggest taking it one of the local tribes around
Neah Bay and see if they can identify it.

Did you find it on tribal land?

 

[rallenjr]

It wasn't on tribal land but a remote beach. I'm sure it was public but could be mistaken. I was looking for some recreational gold panning places to take the kid.

I've called and with everything going on it's tough talking to anyone and any in person stuff won't happen for a while.

I've probably already done too much damage before I even knew what I had. I want to do right by it if it's special. It has to be old. It's not ornamental at all. The hardened material around it doesn't happen at overnight.

My plans are to follow through but my curiosity is peaked right now. My hunch is it's older than some of the information, artifacts I've been able to research myself. I've sent some emails and waiting for responses.

 

[ARC]

What's left of an old iron spike or bolt... or rod... or whatever. IMO.

 

[A2coins]

I agree with AARC but hold onto it ya never know.

 

[A2coins]

Welcome to tnet

 

[Jason in Enid]

its leverite.

 

[CoinFetcher]

Dude, it’s a freakin large nail.

I rockhound on the beach for artifacts, I rockhound on the beach for rocks, I rockhound on the beach for agates.

I Metal detecting on the beach for Coins and everything else. I do all of this in Washington state. What you have there is a large chunk of iron now. It’s not special. I’m sorry

 

[rallenjr]

I thought that but didn't really explain the 11ish inches of cylindrical wood mush on one side of it through the hardened organic material encasing it. The cylindrical holes are about an 1/8th to a 1/4th inch larger in diameter than the spike and it was only on one side of the spike.

I'm not questioning the 'freaking large nail." I'm more curious about the bigger picture. Tell me what the other stuff is and maybe i'll believe more than it being a large hunk of iron.

Big picture dude. Maybe I shouldn't have posted here. I guess if you're only looking for coins, you only see coins.

 

[rallenjr]

its leverite.

worth millions right? new to the forum. not born yesterday. thanks for the laugh

 

[rallenjr]

Welcome to tnet

thanks. been an anonymous reader for a while. finally mustered up something to post about. having extra time at home helps.

 

[dognose]

It looks like a old ship spike to me that has rusted out.

 

[CoinFetcher]

Getting stuff identified is one of the great perks of Tnet!!

I have posted stuff I Believe to Rare and valuable and the folks here shoot me down. Part of the hobby!!

I have a friend who has a clam shell he wears on his neck that he thinks came from a native price... no joke! (Hint: it’s just a clam shell)

 

[Jim in Idaho]

Interesting find regardless of monetary value. Even if it's from an old ship...it's great!
Jim

 

[ticndig]

maybe it's a spike from a pier torn apart in a storm long ago .

 

[Goodyguy]

It's just too far gone to be identified with any certainty.
My guess is, a type of rebar or reinforcement. The concretion around it may well be decomposed concrete.
The wood near it makes me think part of a dock or maybe part of an old seawall.

Old concrete debris from torn down buildings, bridges, etc. was used to create seawalls.
Over time, storms scattered smaller pieces up and down the beaches.

Without any identifying marks or provenance it's just a rusted piece of metal found embedded in a concretion on the beach.
The only real value is what ever your imagination comes up with to excite you.

It can always be analyzed metallurgically to see what part of the world it most likely came from and what time period it was created.
That's about the most you can hope for realistically.





GG~

 

[unclemac]

i have found plenty of those on Washington beaches, it is nothing special but I always like cleaning them up as I like the look of them in that decayed but cleaned up state. I may deteriorate over time especially if it is wrought iron.

 

[Colonel Corncob]

Interesting when you take the decayed wood into consideration. Most spearheads usually widen and then narrow back down to a tip, but I've seen one or two that's shaped like yours. It would be interesting to think about how (if that's a spearhead) they attached the head to the stick.