what is it?

[RickyD]

I found this detecting the target range at a fort that was in existance from 1859 to 1868. At the same site I found dozens of 58 cal. mini balls. It is 3 1/2 X 1 1/2 inches. It is pressed out of thin brass, and is a hand holding a chisel. On the back are remnants of what seem to be ears that held it as an emblem on the outside of a satchel or something. Any guesses?

 

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[DCMatt]

I suspect that this item may be related to one of the many late 19th - early 20th century fraternal orders.

I have to agree with PBK. I don't think this is a military item.

I thought it might be for a specialist like a wheelwright or a carpenter, but badges for those specialties (that I could find) were self evident - like a wheel or crossed hammers or a saw.

DCMatt

 

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[Michelle]

I suspect that this item may be related to one of the many late 19th - early 20th century fraternal orders.

I have to agree with PBK. I don't think this is a military item.

I thought it might be for a specialist like a wheelwright or a carpenter, but badges for those specialties (that I could find) were self evident - like a wheel or crossed hammers or a saw.

DCMatt

Arm & Hammer

 

[Angelo]

Fraternity paddle?

http://www.rubylane.com/shops/getreal/item/0126-658

Tony

 

[dugupfinds]

Fraternity paddle?

http://www.rubylane.com/shops/getreal/item/0126-658

Tony

I used to be slapped with crictet bats (Paddles) at school as well, or does it have another use?

 

[DCMatt]

If this is a chisel, why does it have ridges on the blade?

Maybe this represents an artillery gunners vent brush or pick.

Or maybe it just shows proper hand position for milking a cow... :P I don't know...

DCMatt

 

[RickyD]

Appreciate all the responses to this find. Guess I may never know what it really was, but it is one of my more interesting finds, and will know doubt make for conversation for years to come. Thanks all, and thanks for the warm welcome to this site.....

 

[Michelle]

Guys the band around the wrist looks almost like a restraint of some kind... Also, the hand looks feminine....like a womans

 

[history.hunter]

I have to agree with michelle. The first thing I noticed when I looked at this item was that That is definately a female hand with some sort of bracelet. I haven't let figured out when she is holding. I am still working on that.

 

[history.hunter]

Ok, You said this place has been an insane asylum for a very long time. So, mabe it has nothing to do with the fort or military at all. Mabe it has something to do with the nursing staff at the hospital. Perhaps some sort of button or pin to signify that nurses position or something. Just a guess from the clues.

 

[RickyD]

You guys still workin on this one, huh? Really appreciate the attention this one has brought. Maybe alittle background imformation may help....Yes it was found in the vicinity of, what is now, Western State Hospital. About 300 yards away, across the street, and out in the middle of a very unkept piece of land, with very unruley grasses. I was told that at one time it was a hay field for the cattle that were raised on the site that the inmates cared for, and helped make the mental institution self supporting. Though the barns are still there, this project was done away with before 1940. Because I believed that any established fort had to have had a target practice area, I believed that field had to be the location for reasons...One, it was close to the fort, two, it had the only hill in the area that could stop any stray bullets, and three, as soon as I began detecting it I began finding dozens of 58 cal., three ringed miniballs, along with an occational smooth bore ball. Bingo! In the midst of all this I found the piece in question. Other notable finds was the sabre drag I also have posted on this site, a captain's bar, and a one sided 1850's type coin replica, which I think came out of a piece of jewelry. Because out in the middle of a unkept area, other than a piece of tin foil now and then, very little trash has been found. The mental hospital itself began in 1869 with 33 patients plus staff, and occupied some of the 33 buildings that were part of the original fort. And has slowly grown into the mental facility that it is today. The only buildings remaining from the original fort are 4 officers quarters, which have been beautifully refurbished. If you look up Fort Steilacoom on the internet, it shows these buildings, and tells that at one time or the other were occupied by famous civil war officers such as George McClellen, US Grant, Pickett, among others. When looking at the pictures of these building, the field is behind the location of where the picture was taken, approximately 300 yards back....Thats all I have. I know, it isn't much.....

 

[kenb]

A female hand, restraints and a paddle. Just where are you going with this Michelle?

kenb

 

[Ed-NH]

Folks, I don't know what it is. Here's a few retouched photos that may bring out some detail for ya

 

[Silver Searcher]

I said it looks more like a cricket bat. (Than a chisel) Not that it is one.

So you did.

However, Tyre Kicker said...

Definitely a cricket bat

That's because if you look at the handle it's notched into the blade the same as a cricket bat.

 

[Michelle]

Cricket Bat it is............This medal is dated 1892.. Guess the patients at the assylum played Cricket....Why Not

 

[Michelle]

A female hand, resraints and a paddle. Just where are you going with this Michelle?

kenb

Did I say that? Came out the wrong way...Anyway maybe it IS a womans cricket badge

 

[mech]

so is it a really really small cricket bat or a really really big hand??

 

[Michelle]

Seems to be as most medals or medallions that it is proportioned to the hand ... being it was made in the late 1890's maybe the perfection wasnt quite there...Just a guess but maybe it is a childs cricket badge/bat

 

[PBK]

Like MechTech, I'd like to know why the hand is several sizes too large— or the cricket bat several sizes too small.

And I'd also (still) like to know why the bat is being grasped upside down, by the blade instead of the handle. Is the Jolly Green Giant taking it away from Sir Don Bradman, or what?

These aren't exactly minor details.

However, if it is a cricket badge of some sort, there should be other badges showing reasonably similar designs: giant hand holding bat by the blade, etc.— but I haven't seen and can't find any.

Time for me to sit back and watch someone else take a whack at this one!

 

[blurr]

Seems to be as most medals or medallions that it is proportioned to the hand ... being it was made in the late 1890's maybe the perfection wasnt quite there...Just a guess but maybe it is a childs cricket badge/bat

Uh, many things made in the 1800's were made better than they are now, so I don't believe that is the case. That being said, the "bat", doesn't look right to me. It's shaped more like a sword, or knife to me.

John

 

[history.hunter]

Ok, I still think that is a womans hand. I don't think that is a bat of any kind. Why would anything be made depicting the improper hand hold on a bat. That being said. What would a woman hold like that? You would think the hand would be holding the small handle if that were the way it was supposed to be gripped.