Yesterday w/ Mikeshayne... very odd civil war relic needs ID

[umrgolf]

First off, I need to thank BuckleBoy for recently ID'ing a civil war tompion in another member's post... I had dug one last Tuesday in the yard that had the civil war camp, but threw it in the junk pile thinking it was MODERN Last night I was at my girlfriend's place royally pi$$ed because I thought I had thrown it in the garbage

This morning I was very relieved to find it was still on my dresser with the rest of last Tuesday's trash



here's a non-dug I found on google





Back to yesterday- Mikeshayne made it into town about 10:30 and we headed out towards a spot that we had never been on, and had no idea what to expect... Within 5 minutes of getting out of the vehicle, we located a nice bullet "spill" .. A few other finds turned up throughout the day, but the one spot produced 40 dropped .54 calibers, 4 round .54 calibers, 2 colts, 1 teardrop, and 1 .69 caliber

Both of our finds




Mike's stuff




My stuff










7 of these bullets have these spiral grooves on them, ramrod??




very odd looking carved? bullet





and then finally, this relic has me completely stumped.. It has a black rubber insert right in the middle of the base

 

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[BuckleBoy]

get you a junk box and put everything you dig in that yard in it no mater how junky it might be. You will be glad you did later. HH

This is sound advice. Keep the brass until you can ID as good or certainly trash. I kept everything, and went back several times for gun parts from mid-1800s weapons, officer's spur fragments, etc. Finally I went super critically back through the whole bin, then recycled the stuff that was for sure junk and kept the whatzits to start a new brass bin.

Cheers,


Buck

 

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[wwwtimmcp]

is the inside of the brass cap threaded ?

 

[HEAVYMETALNUT]

very nice day out guys! those 2 carved pieces are sweet! ya must have enough bullets dug now to keep a regiment supplied for a years worth of fighting

 

[mikeshayne]

Jeff,
Congrats to both of you guys. Nice lead haul, and some neat pieces too.
I've always wondered what a CW tampon looked like.
You have been tearing it up lately. How do you get your bullets to look so good. I use a toothbrush and water on mine but it never seems to get the darker stains off. Yours are awesome.
Great post. Very informative.
-Dug-

Not sure if it is the soil or the chemicals the farmers use on these fields but surprisingly the lead comes out pure white. No staining at all. Just a couple of miles away is a Union shooting range and the bullets there range in color from dull white to stained brown. I normally just use water and tootbrush to get the mud and hard packed clay off and leave the staining as is.

 

[{Sentinel}]

Hey Jeff, sorry I'm just now getting to post, my interenet has been down for the better part of the day as Cox is updating their LAN in the area. I agree with the consensus about your

lead piece being a homemade stopper; a very nice personal item, and the tompion is terrific and its all there, glad you saved that guy! You and Mike had a solid hunt with alot of nice

dropped Minies to boot. Looking forward to what you get into next out there in Missouri!

 

[natepen]

Surprised no one has come up with the idea that it might be an attempt at a button but what do I know I'm a Yankee.

 

[umrgolf]

That lead piece with the loop could be a tompion also, but it would have to be for a smooth bore, measure the part that would have gone into the barrel and see if it is close the the bullets you found there. I found one that had rifling marks on it, you could tell it was hammered into the barrel. At first everyone said it was a stopper for a bottle, but after closer examination it was obvious it was a tompion, you could not have hammered a chunk of lead into a bottle without braking it. Hey get you a junk box and put everything you dig in that yard in it no mater how junky it might be. You will be glad you did later. HH

Don't have it with me today or I would measure it.. I'll tell you this, its much wider than a .54, but could be .69 which would make sense for smooth bore

Interesting relics

Thanks

Jeff,
Congrats to both of you guys. Nice lead haul, and some neat pieces too.
You have been tearing it up lately. How do you get your bullets to look so good. I use a toothbrush and water on mine but it never seems to get the darker stains off. Yours are awesome.
Great post. Very informative.
-Dug-

you didn't have to remove the one part Thanks, like Mike said, different soil produces different colored bullets... Most of the ones I dug out east had the same stains that would never come off

Cool finds...I love adding lead to my collection!

Thanks, got a bunch this year.. was hoping to make one year-long CW display but I don't know that's going to work

is the inside of the brass cap threaded ?

don't have it here today, but not sure.. are you talking about the tompion? or the bent rivet half?

very nice day out guys! those 2 carved pieces are sweet! ya must have enough bullets dug now to keep a regiment supplied for a years worth of fighting

lol, I don't know about that

Hey Jeff, sorry I'm just now getting to post, my interenet has been down for the better part of the day as Cox is updating their LAN in the area. I agree with the consensus about your

lead piece being a homemade stopper; a very nice personal item, and the tompion is terrific and its all there, glad you saved that guy! You and Mike had a solid hunt with alot of nice

dropped Minies to boot. Looking forward to what you get into next out there in Missouri!

glad with the tompion.. the wood cork still being there is what made me think modern

Surprised no one has come up with the idea that it might be an attempt at a button but what do I know I'm a Yankee.

good thought, but not a button.. there were soldier, field-made buttons from lead, but this one is way to bulky and heavy

 

[peanut]

Man you guys are finding some nice stuff, I really like the tompion! It looks like you have a period hoof cleaner to, I dug one and didn't know what it was and almost threw it away.

 

[timekiller]

Do It To It......Onward.
Take Care,
Pete,

 

[fireman4youu]

Nice finds... Maybe an Ink well cork?

 

[umrgolf]

Man you guys are finding some nice stuff, I really like the tompion! It looks like you have a period hoof cleaner to, I dug one and didn't know what it was and almost threw it away.

thank you Matt all you guys are awesome, I really appreciate all the ID help I can get

Do It To It......Onward.
Take Care,
Pete,

thanks Pete

Nice finds... Maybe an Ink well cork?

not sure, possible Id say