Harmonica Part? And Bullet ID Help

[DJDigger]

I found these items on a mid tn plantation site said to have been occupied by soldiers in civil war. Never seen a bullet like this with a little nipple on the bottom. Am I right about the harmonica part? If so it will confirm more hunting there will be a necessity! It's a big place and I just scoped it out for a couple hours this weekend.

 

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[creskol]

Yes .. It's a harmonica reed plate, but a 99.99999% likelihood that it is post Civil War.

 

[DJDigger]

I found these items on a mid tn plantation site said to have been occupied by soldiers in civil war. Never seen a bullet like this with a little nipple on the bottom. Am I right about the harmonica part? If so it will confirm more hunting there will be a necessity! It's a big place and I just scoped it out for a couple hours this weekend.

 

[fyrffytr1]

I saw the same bullet in another thread. It was IDed as being a modern muzzle loader round and the nipple would have held a plastic expansion plug.

 

[Hdubya]

I'm a newbie at this, but, this bullet appears to be a modern day muzzle loader. Love the harmonica piece!

 

[DJDigger]

Yes .. It's a harmonica reed plate, but a 99.99999% likelihood that it is post Civil War.

How so certain? It sure seems old enough..it fell into two pieces when I opicked it up. Also I know the area has produced artifacts before. Thanks for ID.

 

[DJDigger]

I saw the same bullet in another thread. It was IDed as being a modern muzzle loader round and the nipple would have held a plastic expansion plug.

Thanks for the help with the ID

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

In a reply to Creskol, DJDigger wrote:
> How so certain [that it is a post-civil-war one]?

I'm speaking only as an "observer" on this subject, not as an expert. There has been a lot of debate about whether these long rectangular brass reed-plates from harmonicas are pre-1866 or not. The consensus of opinion from historical-document Researchers (who have studied the invention and early production-history of harmonicas) is that this particular version (long rectangular brass) is almost certainly post-civil-war. Speaking for myself as a digger who has found several just like it at civil war sites, that is difficult for me to believe. But I feel bound to accept what the Historical Harmonica Researchers say.

A very short summary:
What we now call a harmonica was first invented in Europe in the 1820s. At the time, it was called a "mouth harp." There were several variations of the basic form, one of which was called an Aeolian. For several decades after invention, nearly all production took place in Europe. Also, for a long time after invention, each one had to be made "by hand" -- which means the quantity produced was low.

On that subject, and in particular the dates, here is info from Wilipedia (scroll down to the "History" part of the article): Harmonica - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
[Wikipedia quote]
"By 1855, there were at least three harmonica-making businesses: C. A. Seydel Söhne, Christian Messner & Co., and Württ. Harmonikafabrik Ch. WEISS. [Note, all were in Europe, none in the US.] Owing to competition between the harmonica factories in Trossingen and Klingenthal, machines were invented to punch the covers for the reeds. In 1857, Matthias Hohner, a clockmaker from Trossingen, started producing harmonicas. Eventually he became the first to mass-produce them. He used a mass-produced wooden comb [not metal] that he had made by machine-cutting firms. By 1868, he began supplying the United States."
[End of Wikipedia quote.]

Saying again, as a civil war relic-digger, I was surprised to hear that the long rectangular brass reed-plates are believed to be post-civil-war era. I've posted the information above simply to explain Creskol's statement that the version found by DJDigger is "99% likelihood" postwar.