Silver?? Lead???I dont know what the heck it is!!

[Maryland Searcher 2]

Hello all!!

I have updated a few more photos, but this is the best it gets. I have to get a new 10 gig camera and get rid of my 7 gig for these photos.


Its been a while since I posted but this takes the cake!!
This should be in the whatsit section probably but it IS a today find. I found this recently and thought it may be silver, but it came up in the 12-14+ range of my XLT.
It bends like lead, feels heavy like silver and lead and isnt magnetic. It defies all I know of metals even though you have to take into consideration im a newbie!!
If anyone has any info on this I would be grateful!! Maybe it is linked to a denomination or certain church. It has all the earmarks of being fairly ancient, but I dont know around this area. Anything is possible!!

Keep the batteries charged and the coils to the ground!!

 

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[Maryland Searcher 2]

Sorry, my first picture didnt take...Kind of hard to get feedback without a pic, huh??
Thanks for understanding the "over fourties" thing here.

 

[Jeep]

Hard to make out

Looks cool and a finding anything is great

How about a better pic of the object

Love the pic of Yukon Cornelius, always been my hero, singing "Silver and Gold"

 

[lostcauses]

Don't be bending it any more. it is a cross, from what I can see in the photo it appears it may have a design on it also. Looks to be old. Did you find anything else around it??

Some metals if heated and then cooled properly can get very soft.
Better photos if you can. A different back ground may help with focus.

 

[cheese]

That does look old...very old. Is there a mission site nearby or anything like that?

 

[ivan salis]

its a oldish looking "celtic" style designed cross ( most likely irish catholic * ) and appears to be very old to me ( as such is most likely a "historical" relic ---so please DO NOT BEND IT ANYMORE --YOU MIGHT BREAK AND RUIN IT - most likely its made of pewter * which in the old days contained a lot of lead -thus it is sort of heavy and softish metal wize with either a silverish (when newer) or dull gray tone in color. (over time pewter can turn a dull gray tone.) --- nice find.

 

[Ifoundit69]

As a suggestion , try some silver polish on it and keep rubbing it ,if it is silver the black residue will eventually stop coming off on the rag if its lead it will continue to leave a black residue on the rag . Ive found a few silver ingits on the beach before and they where covered with tarnish and once I polished them the tarnish was gone and ive found just plan lead chunks and when I tried the polish it never changed the appearance but kept putting off tarnish on the rag kind of grayish color. I have one stone I found and still id'd it yet it was white coming out of the ground and when I cleaned it ,it turned bronze color then slowly went back to white ..kinda weird but with your artifact id handle it gently becuase it does look old .Good Luck and cool find .!!!

 

[liftloop]

I know this mite sond stupid but put a torch to it, if it melts real easy it's lead but wy would they use lead to make a relijus simble.

 

[sniffer]

according to what I've been able to find out, lead was a very popular metal to make Celtic crosses.
it's a very soft metal, easy to work with and cheap. they also used bronze.
modern Celtic crosses use a lead-free pewter
hope this helps

Sniffer

 

[seger98]

Pretty neat find there.

 

[Maryland Searcher 2]

Nope....nothing else around. It was in a local field so I think a hand must have lost it while working in the field. This is an old area but mostly pennsylvania dutch so it was a strange find.
I did try to rub a little polish on it and got a little result, but I think it is lead. Some shined up a bit, but the majority of it stayed black. I also thought I would leave the patina so it was original anyway.

I only bent it once and that was to get it back in its original shape. It was just slightly bent so no harm.
Thanks for all the input on this and I will research it more when I get a chance.

 

[WheatbackDigger]

It looks like an old lead sinker for fishing

 

[ivan salis]

pewter in the old days was lead based -- thus heavy in wieght --pewter was a very commonly used for drinking mugs and platters to eat from ( a poor mans or inn keepers type of -- cup and dish) as well other day to day cheap little items untill they found out about "lead poisoning" -- then pewter rapidly fell out of favor for any use * today they have "lead free pewter" but it never regained it former "common" use status --many folks are baffled by finding old things made of pewter-- soft like lead but not quite as soft as lead should be --silverish to dull grey in color --doesn't ring up "right" for lead either numbers wize -- (PEWTER)

lots of irish catholic farm laborers came over to the USA during the potato famine years in ireland as "indentured servents" -- self contracted "slaves" who traded several years of free labor for the mere price of a ticket from ireland to the USA to prevent starving to death in ireland --- some of them I'm sure hired out as farm hands to work in the feilds --no doubt ( a very good chance your item might have came form one of em) -- baltimore and other northern ports were common "landing points" for these people -- if they could escape once they got to the usa before their "masters" showed up to claim them --they were "free" to adopt a new name and blend in with the large irish populations in many major cities.

many irishmen upon arrival of their ships in northern ports were "forced"during the civil war to either pay a $300 "exemption fee" or join the union army -- the irish draft riots of new york during the civil war (quelled by union troops that had just fought in the battle of gettysburg ) were about this irish "policy"

 

[HISPAN]

great crucifix

 

[plainsman]

Look closely at the ends of the arms. Looks to me like a ceremonial axe in a native american style, like maya.

 

[allen]

great looking find...

 

[BuckleBoy]

Could it be "trade silver"?

 

[OPUS1]

Nice cross whatever it is. One of those keepers for sure.

Thanks for sharing this mistory metal

 

[Maryland Searcher 2]

Well I took Ifoundit's advice. It doesnt shine like silver when lightly polished and it does stay black.
Im pretty sure it may just be a lead celtic cross like ivan silas suggested since we have no monestaries, I am in "potato country" where immagrants did work, I found it in a working field and lastly the cross does not conform to any single metal properties as far as ID from the detector.

Thanks to all that helped. You answered a lot of questions and a lot I didnt think to ask!!!

I love this forum, so keep it up and keep finding the good stuff!!

 

[tabdog]

Cool find.

Stop trying to clean it.

You'll only mess it up.

Happy Huntin,

Tabdoh