🔎 UNIDENTIFIED Spun Tombac bell?

[RustyRelics]

Hello fellas, today I present to you a mystery.


I went metal detecting yesterday on my 8th great grandfathers property, where he bult a stone house in the 1750s. After searching for a couple hours with my Equinox, I had recovered nearly a dozen roundballs, and this bell. Here's a link to the original thread if y'all want to see it.

8th great grandfathers property - found some roundballs and a bell

Today I drove down to the "valley" as it's known around here, in Dauphin county Pennsylvania. I got permission to metal detect on a property that my 8th great grandfather built a house on in 1757. He was a militia man for a month during the revolutionary war. No idea why he only served a month...

www.treasurenet.com

At first, I didn't know what this was made of. After a while, I finally figured that it is made out of Tombac. If you look closely, you can see "lines" or lathe marks going around the bell. It appears to be almost home made, judging by the imperfections. This was found on the edge of a cornfield I was searching, next to a tree line.


I didn't think that this was old, but now after examining the imperfections, and knowing that this is tombac, could this be older than I thought?

 

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[GoldieLocks]

The pictures online I found of Tombac objects, almost none have that hue. It looks more steel or copper to me. Maybe from an antique set of horse sleigh bells?

 

[RustyRelics]

The pictures online I found of Tombac objects, almost none have that hue. It looks more steel or copper to me.

I see what you mean, but it isn't copper, and it's too soft to be steel.

 

[ticndig]

looks like brass to me.

 

[ironhorse]

Your bell is tombac...an alloy of brass
It stays a silvery colour in the dirt but will corrode green like brass

Neat shape...I cant say I've seen one just like it before

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

One more time, because some people have forgotten seeing me say it previously many times.

Tombac is a brass alloy which contains approximately 85% copper with 15% zinc. Its color is more "golden" than the yellow color of typical brass, which is 60-75% copper with the remainder being zinc. Canada made Tombac 5-cent coins during World War 2. See the color in the photos of a couple of uncirculated ones, attached below.

Many people do not know that there is another variety of Tombac, called "White Tombac." Like normal Tombac it contains about 85% copper with the rest being zinc, EXCEPT for the addition of 1% metallic Arsenic. Strangely, the Arsenic 1% is enough to change the alloy's color drastically, to a "silverish" tone.

Also kinda strangely, most White Tombac buttons come out of the ground very nearly still shiny, with almost no patina-buildup at all, because the 1% presence of Arsenic in them seems to kill the microorganisms which help form the patina we typically see on excavated copper-&-zinc alloy relics.

When not excavated, and highly polished, White Tombac looks like what you see in the photo of a Romanian "Vlad Teppes" 1998 commemorative coin, attached below.

The professional archeologists who call the Colonial Era silver-ish "spun back" 1-piece buttons "Tombac buttons" are metallurgically ignorant. In actuality, those buttons are made of White Tombac.

 

[RustyRelics]

One more time, because some people have forgotten seeing me say it previously many times.

Tombac is a brass alloy which contains approximately 85% copper with 15% zinc. Its color is more "golden" than the yellow color of typical brass, which is 60-75% copper with the remainder being zinc. Canada made Tombac 5-cent coins during World War 2. See the color in the photos of a couple of uncirculated ones, attached below.

Many people do not know that there is another variety of Tombac, called "White Tombac. Like normal Tombac is contains about 85% copper with the rest being zinc, EXCEPT for the addition of 1% metallic Arsenic. Strangely, the Arsenic 1% is enough to change the alloy's color drastically, to a "silverish" tone.

Also kinda strangely, most White Tombac buttons come out of the ground very nearly still shiny, with almost no patina-buildup at all, because the 1% presence of Arsenic in them seems to kill the microorganisms which help form the patina we typically see on excavated copper-&-zinc alloy relics.

When not excavated, and highly polished, White Tombac looks like what you see in the photo of a Romanian "Vlad Teppes" 1998 commemorative coin, attached below.

The professional archeologists who call the Colonial Era silver-ish "spun back" 1-piece buttons "Tombac buttons" are metallurgically ignorant. In actuality, those buttons are made of White Tombac.

So my bell is arsenic tainted. Interesting... lol

 

[pepperj]

So my bell is arsenic tainted. Interesting... lol

It won't hurt you. Lol
Another example is:
Your shell brass is a 70/30 (70% copper/30% zinc)brass, same as a pocket watch case, brass zipper pull.

Adding one element like arsenic can alter the composition so it will be more resilient to environmental damage.

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

RustyRelics asked:
> I didn't think that this was old, but now after examining the imperfections, and knowing that this is tombac, could this be older than I thought?

Pardon me for overlooking the question you asked at the very end of your lengthy post. The answer is Yes. Your White-Tombac crotal (horse-harness) bell is from the Colonial Era into the early-1800s.

 

[CRUSADER]

The pictures online I found of Tombac objects, almost none have that hue. It looks more steel or copper to me. Maybe from an antique set of horse sleigh bells?View attachment 2031874

Agreed, its a sleigh bell, rather than Crotal Bell.

 

[RustyRelics]

RustyRelics asked:
> I didn't think that this was old, but now after examining the imperfections, and knowing that this is tombac, could this be older than I thought?

Pardon me for overlooking the question you asked at the very end of your lengthy post. The answer is Yes. Your White-Tombac crotal (horse-harness) bell is from the Colonial Era into the early-1800s.

Thank you very much for your input!