Lead ball with hole in it

[buckeyehunter]

I found this today at an old farm and not sure what it is, I do know it is lead, hole does not have threads in it and the hole does not go all the way though. Not sure of weight because I dont have anything to weigh it and it is about an inch tall

 

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[hunterken]

maybe weight for a pressure cooker to release steam.

 

[johnnyi]

buckeye, these are net weights. If you live near water you'll probably find a lot of them. On freshwater they were used for the shad runs. The oldest style is that on the right which is just bent cast lead. They would date from colonial through mid 19th century. After that, the ones you find the most of are the cylinder style pictured in the middle which were used until fairly recent times. They also come in various sub-shapes which tend to date age. The round ones were similar to the cylinders and served in the same basic time frame.

 

[buckeyehunter]

buckeye, these are net weights. If you live near water you'll probably find a lot of them. On freshwater they were used for the shad runs. The oldest style is that on the right which is just bent cast lead. They would date from colonial through mid 19th century. After that, the ones you find the most of are the cylinder style pictured in the middle which were used until fairly recent times. They also come in various sub-shapes which tend to date age. The round ones were similar to the cylinders and served in the same basic time frame.

Did they make them where the hole doesnt go all the way through? my hole just goes over half way through, no hole on other side

 

[johnnyi]

Ha! it would help if I read the fine print! Now I don't know. Give me a second....

I just looked at a few of the round ones like yours. All I can can see is that the hole is real clean, unlike the outside surface which is mottled and somewhat irregular on a couple. It appears that the holes were drilled, but can't be sure. As the holes are not tapered, it would be a hard job to castrt hem with a hole, and then have to bang them off the mold form. I would assume these were cast with a starting hole but as I've never found any unfinished, I just don't know the answer for sure. It may be these were cast unfished but sold bored out. (later if you tell me the exact size of your piece I'll put calipers on the inside hole of a correspondig one of mine which should tighten up a guess a little more. )

 

[buckeyehunter]

the ball is 7/8 of an inch tall and the whole is 5/16 hope this helps

 

[intimer]

just curious. seems odd the hole doesn't go thru.
how much thickness is left in the hole. no chance just dirt, grim in hole?

 

[johnnyi]

Sorry Buckeye, just saw your newer post with measurements. Yes, the hole size is identical to the smaller common net weights. The size of the ball is not as your's is a bit larger. That may be just local difference in manufacture, I don't know as the vast majority of the newer net weights like your's I've found at one particular site where there would be probably one local source.