Weapon hammer? found at Boer war site. UPDATED!!!

[pgill]

Hi Guys and Gals,

This item was found at a Boer war site here in South Africa and looks like a hammer to a weapon, I am not fully conviced about this yet and need your expert input.

Any help will be apreciated very much.

God bless
Peter

 

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[SHERMANVILLE ILLINOIS]

Re: Weapon hammer? found at Boer war site.

Peter,

very nice artifact.

Not any type of expert, that hammer looks old.

Boer wars 1815 -1902, that could be prior to
the war. Almost looks like something for holding
a flint or popping a cap.

Sure someone will be able to give you better info.

Again, very nice find.
have a good un............

 

[Gypsy Heart]

Re: Weapon hammer? found at Boer war site.

Not an expert...but it looks like a fish!

 

[pgill]

Re: Weapon hammer? found at Boer war site.

Thanks guys for the replies..... I also thought the hammer if it is one is from an earlier period.... umm quite confusing

Gypsy, is that where we get tinned fish from? Have you seen my Boer war finds yet, umm dont recall seeing your name on my post forgive me if I am wrong
http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,47134.0.html

God bless
Peter

 

[SHERMANVILLE ILLINOIS]

Re: Weapon hammer? found at Boer war site.

Don't look like no fish to me. Not even on a bun.
Fish are flat and square.

But I think I remember seeing ones, hammers, that
were in the shape of serpents, dragons, fish.

all have a good un...........

 

[Gypsy Heart]

Re: Weapon hammer? found at Boer war site.

http://bama.ua.edu/~alaarch/historicartifactgame/ha02a.htm

Go here.......Same hammer on this

 

[pgill]

Re: Weapon hammer? found at Boer war site.

Gypsy, you are a darling I must admit I was not that convinced that it was a hammer..... but now, no doubt whatsoever The next problem is why was it on a Boer war site?

God bless
Peter

 

[Spitfire Reddie]

Re: Weapon hammer? found at Boer war site.

See thats what i love about this site ! The nice & knowledgeable people like gypsyheart !!

 

[Gypsy Heart]

Re: Weapon hammer? found at Boer war site.

Don't look like no fish to me. Not even on a bun.
Fish are flat and square.

But I think I remember seeing ones, hammers, that
were in the shape of serpents, dragons, fish.

all have a good un...........

Geez Sherm...havent you ever heard of a hammer head shark? Thats a fish!

 

[Wetgreenie]

Re: Weapon hammer? found at Boer war site.

I'm trying to find more info but man that's got to be old.
i found this pic on a site that had many Boer War era weapons.
this one was an 1867 model from Austria I believe.

I sent an E-mail to the guy who runs the site to see if he's willing to throw us a bone.
It does now look more flintlock-ish than what I found.

 

[Smithbrown]

Re: Weapon hammer? found at Boer war site.

That's a bit early for the Boer war- normally we date it to 1899-1902.

 

[Wetgreenie]

Re: Weapon hammer? found at Boer war site.

I do understand that. I was looking more at shape of the hammer and working off a theory that the native Boer farmers may have used anything they had.

Please excuse my very limited knowledge on this.

 

[pgill]

Re: Weapon hammer? found at Boer war site.

Thanks Wetgreenie, I think this was from before those weapons..... Gypsy's link is exact..... Plus it would of been too slow to load a flintlock in a big battle like they had in the Boer war. This is one of those mysteries..... Smithbrown, I totaly agree with you on this....

God bless
Peter

 

[pgill]

Re: Weapon hammer? found at Boer war site.

Wetgreenie, you may be right.... The Boers quite often supplied their own weapons. If this is the case, it would be like using a pea shooter

God bless
Peter

 

[dg39]

Re: Weapon hammer? found at Boer war site.

Probably lost by a hunter long before the war...

 

[pgill]

Re: Weapon hammer? found at Boer war site.

In this field that we are searching, there is only one small piece where the stuff is...... seems a bit strange that a person would lose this just at the same place. The field is very big indeed I think this was lost at the same time....

God bless
Peter

 

[sniper19612003]

Re: Weapon hammer? found at Boer war site.

It's a hammer off of a flint lock rifle or poss. shot gun.
Most likely a rifle. You would have to do some research on what rifles were used back in the day.
Shouldn't be too difficult.

 

[Real de Tayopa Tropical Tramp]

Re: Weapon hammer? found at Boer war site.

Sniper is correct, it is part of flint holding hammer. The upper part is missing.

Tropical Tramp

 

[pgill]

Re: Weapon hammer? found at Boer war site.

Hi Guys and Gals,

I have spoken to a person here in South Africa that has been detecting Boer war sites for a long time about this hammer, and he tells me that they have found them also.

The story goes that the Zulu war was about 20 years before the Boer war. The Zulu's had a number of these flintlock rifles and became pretty good with them. At the end of the war, somehow the British / Boers had gotten hold of these rifles and placed them in a store as scrap, due to better rifles now being available.
During the Boer war, these flintlocks were broken into pieces and thrown in the dumps that belong to these forts, and therefore are now being found during detecting.

So the bottom line is that we now have Zulu war and Boer war relics at the same site. Is this not exciting stuff I am learning so much since starting this hobby..... my problem being that I do not have enougth space to keep all my knowledge, my brain is getting full

God bless
Peter

 

[misplacedrednek]

I'm not much help usually in the "what is it" category but I did see this article and thought of your post. This is from Western and Eastern Treasure magazine, August 2006, page 60. It looks very similar. Hope it is of some help.