Brass.... Thing?

Hey Guys,

I was detecting on my girlfriend's family's farm (current barn has an 1894 dating in the cement) and came across this interesting..thing. I'm really new to this and this is the first 'interesting' thing we've found. The entire family has all sorts of ideas but it really is a weird one. The 'front' has two holes in it and the tip has a small hole for what seems to be a hinge or something? It was guessed to be part of furniture, farming equipment, wreath hook, shoe horn.. no def answers though. Has anyone else seen anything like this? I believe it's brass - you're all going to shun me but I ground a part of the back down to see (I highly doubt it's anything of value and wouldn't do that otherwise)

The side of the object has a picture of a flower etched into it and some lines to make it 'fancy' :lol:

Take a look and guess away! I'm totally lost..

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a shoe horn?

That's a butt plate off of an old rifle or musket. Del or one of the other guys can probably give you more details. We had a similar one posted on the forum recently.

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Originally Posted by Robbie

a shoe horn?

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Lol - I'm not that old but now I feel like I am..

it's typically a piece of metal you put into the back of your shoe so you can slide your heel into the shoe easier

This type of thing: http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...L._SL1089_.jpg
they come in all shapes and sizes

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Originally Posted by Tony Two-Cent

That's a butt plate off of an old rifle or musket. Del or one of the other guys can probably give you more details. We had a similar one posted on the forum recently.

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Nice! Thanks a ton for the reply Tony! I can't wait for more info and I'll let the fam know :-)

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Yeah - Once you said that it made sense - My dad has an old musket he inherited (wow are they heavy) and it has a very similar design on it.

The only thing that perplexes me is the little 'hinge' at the tip and no screw for that area.. kinda weird

Pivot point for the plate to flip open for storage area in the butt maybe?

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I found this on another site when I searched.. I'm unsure the reasoning for a Pin vs having another screw but it seems they did this.. it perplexed me because if those screws are in there (in the back) it wont be able to swivel or flip?

That's an awesome, beautiful find! Wow!!:shocked03:

Skamaniac is correct, some of them were made for storage. The screws could be removed and the butt plate would swivel out, hinged on the pin. The gun stock was hollow and you could put ammo or whatever in there.

Super weird - Hopefully they had an extra set of screws in there.. I know I'd lose one :)

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Originally Posted by Pacivilwarluke

That's an awesome, beautiful find! Wow!!:shocked03:

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Thanks! I'm going back out there soon to find more hopefully!

Thanks everyone for the replies and info!

Great find Josh, WTG. I agree with a butt plate for a rifle. Nice observation Tony.

hello Rogue , great looking Stock or Butt plate :thumbsup02: it has great detail and age but unfortunately it appears to be broken off at the smaller end . this helps alot to tell just what type of musket or rifle it was off of. But to me it looks similar any of the English types of long land Brown Bess weapons from 1725 to 1790 ...

Dan

Thanks guys! I'm going back out Sunday with the lady - we have no real plans (so lots of time to find stuff) and I know there were other good targets because as we were leaving I was swinging away and noted where I want to go back to (we were late for an Easter party :-P)

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Originally Posted by del

hello Rogue , great looking Stock or Butt plate :thumbsup02: it has great detail and age but unfortunately it appears to be broken off at the smaller end . this helps alot to tell just what type of musket or rifle it was off of. But to me it looks similar any of the English types of long land Brown Bess weapons from 1725 to 1790 ...

Dan

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Thanks a ton for the info! I never would have guessed it was that old! The area I was detecting was where the old home-site was.. that's awesome! I'm glad I'm not the reason it was broken but hopefully there's more fun stuff out there!