Found this in the woods near an 1860s cellar hole.

[mr helton]

It was very deep and the inside makes it look very old. It also looks like it may have been gold plated at one point.

 

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[nova treasure]

it looks like a walking cane tip.

 

[BosnMate]

Curtain or drape rod tip.

 

[J.Cohoon04]

I'd have to go with Nova on this one.

 

[johnnyi]

Last time this came up the conclusion was that these were types of whiffletree brass ends.

 

[xr7ator]

If it were a cane tip would it not be all beat up from hitting the ground?

 

[Higgy]

Last time this came up the conclusion was that these were types of whiffletree brass ends.

I'm going to say its the finial off a small flagpole. I've never seen a whiffletree that was small enough - or ornate enough - to have one of those on it. Besides, whatever fit inside this one was about 1/2" in diameter, which is certainly not big enough to hold draft horses.

 

[johnnyi]

I'm going to say its the finial off a small flagpole. I've never seen a whiffletree that was small enough - or ornate enough - to have one of those on it. Besides, whatever fit inside this one was about 1/2" in diameter, which is certainly not big enough to hold draft horses.

I was in the same boat as you Higgy when we debated about some of these. That's until someone came up with an actual contemporary advertizement of an even more ornate one than this. As far as the size is concerned, I agree it is mighty small, however the inside diameter of it is clearly larger than a penny when you measure the most accurate of the two pictures (2nd), a penny being about 19mm. The advertisement shows the smallest of the whiffletrees measuring 7/8" inside diameter (which would be about the size of this find. https://www.google.com/search?q=whi...ums%2Fwhat%2F27698-flag-pole-top.html;296;183

 

[Higgy]

I was in the same boat as you Higgy when we debated about some of these. That's until someone came up with an actual contemporary advertizement of an even more ornate one than this. As far as the size is concerned, I agree it is mighty small, however the inside diameter of it is clearly larger than a penny when you measure the most accurate of the two pictures (2nd), a penny being about 19mm. The advertisement shows the smallest of the whiffletrees measuring 7/8" inside diameter (which would be about the size of this find. https://www.google.com/search?q=whi...ums%2Fwhat%2F27698-flag-pole-top.html;296;183

After looking at the pics in that link, I think I'm going to go with what you say, Johnny. Makes a little more sense to me.

 

[SkySgt]

I agree with Higgy about it being the finial off a small wooden flagstaff ... Possibly military. When I was a young airman back in the late 70s, I had to endure many military-style parades. I was often tasked to be the guidon .... The dude out in front of the flight who holds the unit standard (a flag ... for all you civilians). The one in your pic looks to be the finial at the bottom of the staff. It often got beat to Hell on the ground by those of us who could think of better things to do than stand at attention at O-dark thirty in the morning, getting ready to pass-in-review.

Your's looks almost exactly like the Civil War one at the following URL. The style is called an "acorn" finial.

http://www.civilwartalk.com/threads/civil-war-flagstaff-finial-one-of-my-favorites.93114/

The hole in the side of the one you found is where the screw went to attach it to the wooden flagstaff.

Enjoy!

Patrick Lanclos
Cibolo, TX

 

[mr helton]

I agree with Higgy about it being the finial off a small wooden flagstaff ... Possibly military. When I was a young airman back in the late 70s, I had to endure many military-style parades. I was often tasked to be the guidon .... The dude out in front of the flight who holds the unit standard (a flag ... for all you civilians). The one in your pic looks to be the finial at the bottom of the staff. It often got beat to Hell on the ground by those of us who could think of better things to do than stand at attention at O-dark thirty in the morning, getting ready to pass-in-review.

Civil War Flagstaff Finial (One of My Favorites) | American Civil War Forums

woah

 

[Higgy]

Dang it!

 

[johnnyi]

I agree with Higgy about it being the finial off a small wooden flagstaff ... Possibly military. When I was a young airman back in the late 70s, I had to endure many military-style parades. I was often tasked to be the guidon .... The dude out in front of the flight who holds the unit standard (a flag ... for all you civilians). The one in your pic looks to be the finial at the bottom of the staff. It often got beat to Hell on the ground by those of us who could think of better things to do than stand at attention at O-dark thirty in the morning, getting ready to pass-in-review.

Your's looks almost exactly like the Civil War one at the following URL.

Civil War Flagstaff Finial (One of My Favorites) | American Civil War Forums

The hole in the side of the one you found is where the screw went to attach it to the wooden flagstaff.

Enjoy!

Patrick Lanclos
Cibolo, TX

Unfortunately, every cast brass buggy arm end, whiffletree tip, hames tip, ox blunt tip, etc. has the single hole at the base which makes these harder to identify without a contemporary advertisement. They also all end up in fields, whether battle sites or farms, and worse yet, many tips, finials, etc. share a general shape. I'll try to go through a worm ridden stack of 1850's "Rural NewYorkers" tomorrow night and see if this shows. I hope it is something cooler than horse related, but I wouldn't count on it considering how many variations of these turn up regularly in non-Civil War field sites. Good luck with it.

 

[mr helton]

Unfortunately, every cast brass buggy arm end, whiffletree tip, hames tip, ox blunt tip, etc. has the single hole at the base which makes these harder to identify without a contemporary advertisement. They also all end up in fields, whether battle sites or farms, and worse yet, many tips, finials, etc. share a general shape. I'll try to go through a worm ridden stack of 1850's "Rural NewYorkers" tomorrow night and see if this shows. I hope it is something cooler than horse related, but I wouldn't count on it considering how many variations of these turn up regularly in non-Civil War field sites. Good luck with it.

Man I really appreciate the effort on this. Not just you either, everyone here really going out of their way to help me nail this one! I'm excited just to know it's almost certainly very old, but figuring out exactly what it is would just be incredible.

I don't remember if I mentioned it, but I found this in SE Michigan so no CW field there.

 

[aka da Prof]

--ahh, but you did have 'Mustering Fields' there, Mr. helton--right

 

[DCMatt]

--ahh, but you did have 'Mustering Fields' there, Mr. helton--right

and plenty of GAR gatherings in Michigan after the war.

DCMatt

 

[mr helton]

I don't know what either of you just said