Most of the artifacts I find, I recognize right away and know what they are or how they were used. If I’m uncertain, a quick internet search usually clears things up. But every now and then, I come across something that baffles me. Today’s post is about a few of those puzzling finds. For scale, I’m using a silver dollar—though not one I found metal detecting. In fact, finding a real one is probably at the very top of my bucket list.
First up is this Conestoga wagon. It doesn’t have any embossing or identifying marks. There’s a hole in one end that I first thought might be for sharpening pencils, but there’s no place for the shavings to go, and no sign of a blade inside. Could it have been a child’s toy? Or maybe a pencil topper?
Next is this brass (I believe) plow. What was it used for? A wall decoration, perhaps? But there are no screw or nail holes to suggest it was mounted, nor any evidence it broke off a larger piece. Again, could it have been a child’s toy? I find that hard to imagine, but I really don’t know.
The third item is a miniature sad iron (also known as a flat iron). As you can see from the photo, the handle is broken. Like the Conestoga wagon, it has a hole in the back and is hollow inside. I searched online for both “Conestoga wagon pencil sharpener” and “sad iron pencil sharpener” and came up empty. Could they be early Monopoly pieces?
Next up is a brass piece I pulled from a creek recently. It’s fairly heavy and has some interesting designs on it. Could it be from a cupola or pergola? Part of a brass bed? I doubt that, but I’m stumped.
And finally, a replica of an 1879 silver dollar. I found this creek detecting last year, and you can imagine my excitement when it first came out of the water. But I soon realized it was too large to be real, and not made of silver. It does have a hole through it—was someone wearing it as a necklace?
If anyone has any ideas about these items, I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments!