I found it!!!!! Am I lucky or what?

peteacher37

peteacher37

Jr. Member
Aug 21, 2010
31
14
Detector(s) used
Minelab Xterra 705, Minelab Etrac
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Ok experts. I am about a year into this awesome hobby and I have a way of finding things and feel I should be happy. However, I never know what the heck I should be happy about. I really find some strange things. I found this brass item today near a civil war camp. I cleaned it up on my electric wire wheel because I couldn't resist! Sorry! Anyway, if you know will you please tell me what you think this is? Oh and I also found a 14 pound sledge hammer close by! Thanks for motivating me with all of your posts! You guys and this site are the best!
 

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Again thanks for all the info and I am assuming lightning rod, however, this is really different from those rods some of you have sent me. This is a thick strong item and not like those flimsy pics you sent me on worthpoint and ebay. I agree it is very close but I have yet to see one exactly like this. Please keep throwing ideas at me. Should I put this in what is it section?
 

peteacher37 said:
Again thanks for all the info and I am assuming lightning rod, however, this is really different from those rods some of you have sent me. This is a thick strong item and not like those flimsy pics you sent me on worthpoint and ebay. I agree it is very close but I have yet to see one exactly like this. Please keep throwing ideas at me. Should I put this in what is it section?
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There were lightning arrestors, and then there were lightning arrestors. I have always felt that the need for lightning rods on houses was mainly a "manufactured" need.

For instance, they are pretty much a thing of the past. And how many times have you read of a house being struck by lightning??

The "flimsy things" you spoke of were mass produced for the commoners. It appears that the one you found is the expensive type that few could afford. The most interesting thing I have found, as far as the "expensive" ones are concerned, is that quite often the ground wire leading from them to the ground was platinum.

I got this info from a person about 50 years ago, who would find an old house that was about to be torn down and would make arrangements to strip the wire from the lightning arrestor. He said it was funny how most people thought that copper was the only type wire used on them. Platinum is a much better conductor of electricity that copper. :laughing7:

Great find!!

Eagle
 

duggap said:
I think Charles Harris has changed his opinion and now calls it a lightning rod tip. For some reason they seem to be fairly common in the Chattanooga area.
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Is there a later book where he identifies it as a lightning rod tip? I see the ID on p. 35 of WC and always sort of wondered why he called it a flagpole top to begin with.
 

Looks like lightning never found that rod. Maybe made pointed thinking it would keep the birds off :icon_scratch:
 

Lightening rods were designed "not" to attract lightening. Lightening does not like pointed things because they provide little surface area to attract an electrical bolt. They were put on homes and buildings so that "if" lightening found a path down to a roof, the rest of the lightening rod and the twisted horizonal rod lengths would be there to take the power directly to the ground.

So, eye attracting designs cost money, and the fancier the lightening rod, the more the owners were likely to be rich. Hence the addition of color glass balls and weather vanes. Although, some say that the glass ball was there for a purpose: When lightening hit the lightening rod, the glass ball exploded, telling the owner that lightening had tried to hit the building and roof....

My guess, is there were more broken glass balls due to hail, bored kids with rocks, and the invention of the pump-up air rifle and B-B gun... ;>)
 

I'd agree, lightning rod tip. Pretty cool though. A soft brass brush doesn't seem to do any negative damage, just removes the rust - if it's severely rusty it's likely pitted anyways. And if you're like me, you'd get shot trying to set up electrolysis. Zinc and lye works well though!
 

Hunthicks said:
I'd agree, lightning rod tip. Pretty cool though. A soft brass brush doesn't seem to do any negative damage, just removes the rust - if it's severely rusty it's likely pitted anyways. And if you're like me, you'd get shot trying to set up electrolysis. Zinc and lye works well though!
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I'd like to know more about the electrolysis part. Any tips? Does it also involve Zinc and lye or are they part of a different approach? How do you use those two as a rust/corrosion remover?

Thanks,
 

I believe it is a seed corn spike drier. The ears of corn were impaled on the spikes and then hung from the floor joists overhead to dry until spring. This appears to be an early hand wrought tool. Nice find Dude.
 

I just noticed that you said it is brass; Are you sure it's not bronze ? I think you should go to the find ID forum or whatever it's called and see what they have to say. I've been an early antiques dealer for 40 plus years and this appears to be mid 1800's or earlier. The later driers are simple utilitarian implements but this is more refined and would have been passed down through generations. Of course I could be wrong as this is on the fringe of my expertise.
 

underdogger said:
Boy That is an odd piece . I think it might be a tool for punching leather . some sort of sewing tool would be my guess . I may be in left field on that. Or a horrifing doctors blood letting devise cool find what ever it is my friend welcome to t-net Rob :coffee2:
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Unrelated to the weird lightning rod find but kind of fun fact about the phrase, "Out in left field".

"Out in left field" refers to the mental hospital across the street from left field in Chicago's old West Side Park (1893-1915), where the Chicago Cubs played, then known as the Chicago Colts. Players in left field would hear the shouts of crazy people yelling through the windows of the hospital. People began using the term to call people crazy. If someone said something strange, you would respond by saying, "Your out in left field". West Side Park is also where the Cubs won their last World Series in 1908.

BTW - nice find. It looks like a cooking tool to me. A multi-shishkabob tool.
 

Hi,
Nice find, I can assure you that is a tip to a lightning rod. As with everything they made millions of in the past, they range from the plain copper tip to the very ornate high dollar tips like the one you have. I have seen several with much more ornate decoration as well. It all depended upon the money that the owner wanted to spend on the decoration on the rods. I have seen several hundred different kinds of these and the glass balls they had in the middle. Some had a weather vane type of a pointer in the middle as well, like I said, it all depended on the amount of money that you wanted to spend on them.
 

Thanks guys but I am now more confused than ever. Im still going with the lightning rod thingy but I still have yet to see one like this. How do you tell the difference between brass and bronze? Why cant I find another one just like this anywhere? I only had to dig 4" inches but wouldnt there be more in the area? Anyway, thanks for keeping the topic alive. I am the curious sort and need to know exactly where this was used. I just recently learned that there was an old farm where I found this.
 

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