Of course it’s something else I didn’t dig, lol! It’s flat on the back and appears broken. It’s fairly heavy like brass.
It says M W & Co on it and is about the size of a quarter.
Your find is a "smokehouse-type" padlock keyhole's broken-off brass cover. The "MW&CO" on it stands for Mallory, Wheeler & Company. Yours dates from the late-1800s into the very-early 1900s. The antique-padlocks collector website won't allow copying the "large" photos there, so here's a smaller one with a link to the larger view. http://antique-padlocks.com/show_picture.htm?2576
CoilyGirl wrote:
> Thank you so much Cannonball guy, hope you are doing well.
You're welcome. I'm always particularly pleased to assist one of the ladies of TreasureNet. Unfortunately, the Nausea malady continues, which means I feel sick nearly every day. Doc hasn't been able to find the cause, except eliminating a bacteria/virus as the cause, due to no diarrhea or vomiting. The timing is damned inconvenient, because construction is making more progress toward totally wiping out the 1820s farmhouse site 300 feet from my backyard. http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/today-s-finds/623971-bucket-list-finds-civil-war-virginia-state-seal-button-1831-cent-1899-quarter.html
The farmhouse has been knocked down into a pile of rubble, and the 40 acres of fields all bulldozed down to red clay. The only opportunity that's left for me now is digging out a large late-1800s-to-early-1900s privy in the farmhouse's backyard. Sick or not, I can't resist the smell of patina-ed brass and rusty iron so close to my house.