Square bronze/brass ship nail?

[Bizzmark]

Hi, I've seen other threads similar to this, but not quite identical, so I thought I should post.

My father has an old brass-appearing (though consensus seems to be that all of these are bronze) perfectly square ship nail through a small piece of whatever vessel it was attached to. He found it at the beach in Seaside Heights, NJ in the 50's, and always wondered. Photos attached. Any insights welcome. Thank you.

 

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[Mud Hut]

That's a darn cool relic no matter what it is, but a ship spike sounds like a real good possibility.

 

[crashbandicoot]

If it,s not a ship spike,It oughta be!Welcome to the site by the way.I,d say bronze.

 

[villagenut]

Pretty stinking cool....yep ships spike

 

[Bruce R]

Brass and copper spikes were used on ships, especially around the powder magazine where you didn?t want to make a spark driving it in. Because of the nature of wood swelling and contracting and the shape of the spikes, they would work loose and had to be reset periodically.

 

[BuckleBoy]

We find bronze nails down here in colonial Louisiana sites and let me say that is definitely a worked brass nail, not mass produced. I agree it’s likely from a ship. The ones we dig in our sites have similarly irregular shaped heads.

 

[Bizzmark]

Thanks for the insights. I'll let my father know.

Any ideas on era? I found one post that suggested square nails are usually pre-1800, but couldn't corroborate this solidly; seems to be a few such guides around that contradict each other.

 

[BuckleBoy]

Keyword in my reply above, ?colonial? sites. So yes, 1700s

 

[ARC]

Yes.

Bronze ships spike.