🔎 UNIDENTIFIED Need help please

[Nathan W]

Lunch break hunt at mill site. This brass I assume . Thought it was part of a pocket knife while it was packed with dirt but now ...no clue

 

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[Randawg72]

I think it's a piece of a pocket watch.

 

[TORRERO]

Lunch break hunt at mill site. This brass I assume . Thought it was part of a pocket knife while it was packed with dirt but now ...no clue

You guys are hardier souls than I ... stuff like this goes to the trash bin instantly.. Trying to determine what a little piece of brass did back before it was lost.. seems like too much work for me..

 

[Nathan W]

You guys are hardier souls than I ... stuff like this goes to the trash bin instantly.. Trying to determine what a little piece of brass did back before it was lost.. seems like too much work for me..

Ok how much of it would you keep, say the pocket watch . Full one, partial one? Less than half of one? A few distinguishable parts?

 

[Davers]

pocket knife end ? My guess

 

[Davers]

You guys are hardier souls than I ... stuff like this goes to the trash bin instantly.. Trying to determine what a little piece of brass did back before it was lost.. seems like too much work for me..

It;s called OCD

 

[TORRERO]

It's called OCD

Who me or them ? hahaha 🤣
And what is OCD anyway...

 

[TORRERO]

Ok how much of it would you keep, say the pocket watch . Full one, partial one? Less than half of one? A few distinguishable parts?

Well... if it actually looked like a pocket watch of course I would keep it, but this is.. I don't know ... a piece of copper metal with some holes in it, could have come from anything.. and truth be told any answer is just speculative.. I have so much stuff I keep already that if I kept every little doodad that I found that might have been something in life, well I would either be divorced or dead ... 🤣 (wife said that's my options) 🤣

 

[Nathan W]

Who me or them ? hahaha 🤣
And what is OCD anyway...

Probably me , it's obsessive compulsive disorder

 

[Randawg72]

You guys are hardier souls than I ... stuff like this goes to the trash bin instantly.. Trying to determine what a little piece of brass did back before it was lost.. seems like too much work for me..

Torrero,
These little bits of flotsam are our links to the past. Identifying them adds context and an intimate human connection to these items. If you think that IDing a 'junk' find is not worth your time or 'hardiness', then I suggest you don't read or comment on identification threads.

 

[Blackfoot58]

Probably me , it's obsessive compulsive disorder

It could also stand for:
Owner Can Decide 😉
I too keep way too much of my unidentified and junk finds. For example I have a tin coffee can nearly full of rusty nails and screws. They take up very little space and will eventually be donated to some guys who rely on scrap to supplement their income.

 

[pepperj]

I think it's a piece of a pocket watch.

View attachment 2202853

It's actually called a balance wheel bridge.
There's different ones that support different wheels in the mechanism.
Here is a very similar photo of the bridge.

 

[pepperj]

Ok how much of it would you keep, say the pocket watch . Full one, partial one? Less than half of one? A few distinguishable parts?

You can see your little bridge left center in the display.
Now over yrs of digging we all dig parts of pocket watches.
Added up, cleaned up, put in a shadow box instead of a cardboard box.
It becomes a very attractive conversation piece.
Here is just one Waltham watch.

 

[pepperj]

Now to keep, to toss, to never ask?

Hundreds of like minded people read these posts.
Hey I dug that too!
What us it?
Brilliant a main wheel balance bridge. 👏

Now toss and never ask.
Gee I dug one of those
Next reader, me too.
See where this solution is going.
We dumb ourselves down in not asking.

To many items dug if not round, shiny, or of no precious metal content it's automatically trash.
To others items that are dug are bits if history recovered.

Suggestions for scrap items. If it was mechanical or made as watch pieces.
The value is in the scrap also lots of artisans reuse old pieces in their creative designs.

I have sold lots of (scrap) items to people.
Then it's turned into art.

One Of A Kind Craft Shows where artisans gather to sell. I have seen my scrap turned into beautiful pieces of art. That is really cool 😎

One man's trash is another man's treasure.

 

[pepperj]

Here is a perfect example of 2 things.
Picture #1 welding cable example

Picture #2
I sold welding cable, and later on glandular copper to an artisan.
He made these Bonzai trees from the cable.
The glandular was used to make moss on other projects.
2 world's coming together to make something happen.

 

[TORRERO]

Probably me , it's obsessive compulsive disorder

My wife says that's what
I have with Metal Detecting 🤣

 

[pepperj]

My wife says that's what
I have with Metal Detecting 🤣

It's just pure jealousy.
We find our happy when swinging and digging.
Personally the world is totally forgotten when I power up the D2.

 

[TORRERO]

Torrero,
These little bits of flotsam are our links to the past. Identifying them adds context and an intimate human connection to these items. If you think that IDing a 'junk' find is not worth your time or 'hardiness', then I suggest you don't read or comment on identification threads.

Clearly you see my comments as obnoxious, and that was never my intent, clearly if you find something that you don't know what it is and you want to know, take a picture and post it, I'm simply referring to the thousands of things I have dug that are simply unidentifiable as dug, and at least for me, if I see something that I can't ID in the field I probably toss it as scrap,
I apologize if I have offended you guys,
CLEARLY it's always nice to ID something and if you want a bucket full of parts of things that you have ID'd that's great too,
My PERSONAL point was ... that after 40+ years of hunting, I can't personally take and photograph and attempt to ID every piece of metal I find that might be of some historical significance, for years I had a bucket of stuff like that.. I've haven't seen it for a few years and have to assume my wife probably tossed it as junk..

 

[TORRERO]

It's actually called a balance wheel bridge.
There's different ones that support different wheels in the mechanism.
Here is a very similar photo of the bridge.

View attachment 2202943

That's actually really cool, who knew ?

 

[TORRERO]

Now to keep, to toss, to never ask?

Hundreds of like minded people read these posts.
Hey I dug that too!
What us it?
Brilliant a main wheel balance bridge. 👏

Now toss and never ask.
Gee I dug one of those
Next reader, me too.
See where this solution is going.
We dumb ourselves down in not asking.

To many items dug if not round, shiny, or of no precious metal content it's automatically trash.
To others items that are dug are bits if history recovered.

Suggestions for scrap items. If it was mechanical or made as watch pieces.
The value is in the scrap also lots of artisans reuse old pieces in their creative designs.

I have sold lots of (scrap) items to people.
Then it's turned into art.

One Of A Kind Craft Shows where artisans gather to sell. I have seen my scrap turned into beautiful pieces of art. That is really cool 😎

One man's trash is another man's treasure.

exactly ! I certainly was not trying to dumb down anyone's finds, please don't take it that way.. Only that I have dug so much "Stuff" that I kinda "Auto categorize" everything when I dig it, between stuff to keep and stuff to toss..
Even if it can be ID'd, for me at least.. then what do I do with it..
Wife says I'm like a hoarder already ..