Perhaps Civil War era artifact

[diggetydoggy]

This metal thing (medicine tube made of lead?) was found in Washington DC near the Potomac River at Chain Bridge. Minnie balls and clay marbles(?) have been found in the proximity. Originally it had some red (paint residue which is now gone) and white paint residue still visible in the photo. I was thinking this might be something from a Unionist soldier's kit. Any ideas? Thanks

 

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[crashbandicoot]

I know that in the past paint pigments for mixing custom colors came in lead tubes,different sizes.A table was used to determine what pigment and what quantity of pigments to use to mix a certain color.my Grand dad sold paint and I remember these very vividly,only thing is the ones he used looked like a toothpaste tube but had a flat end.Pittsburg Paint was his brand,maybe others used a different shape.Hope this puts you on the right path!

 

[ticndig]

paint and many other things including tooth paste were sold in lead tubes at one time. I dug a few at a house site that also held civil war relics .

John Goffe Rand, an American portrait painter, invented the squeezable metal tube in 1841 for paint.[SUP][2][/SUP] In 1870, Henry Palmer of Stillwater, New York patented a screw-top collapsible "capsule" intended for the storage of condensed medicinal extracts; he suggested tin as a possible material.[SUP][3][/SUP]
Toothpaste in a tube was introduced by Johnson & Johnson in 1889.[SUP][4][/SUP] Not much later, a New London dentist, Washington Sheffield, started selling toothpaste in lead tubes in the 1890s.

 

[smallfoot]

Some body putties have hardener in lead tubes and it is red in color.

 

[Back-of-the-boat]

In the 1960's and 1970's there was a toy that you could blow plastic bubbles and the liquid plastic came in a small lead tube. It was called Super elastic bubble plastic. It was made by Wham-O it was in a small tube like you are showing.

 

[eyemustdigtreasure]

Welcome to TreasureNet...!
Cool find, whatever it turns out...!
Maybe a Painter, propped-up his easel,
and painted a War Scene, and that's one pigment he may have used..... (Red?)