Any nautical types about? Bronze spikes.

[1859large]

I found one of these and my buddy the other. These where found near a port that has been used for as long as people crossed the Atlantic. Probably visited by Basques, Spanish and French before being settled by the English and reputed to have been frequently visited by the odd pirate and raided by the French and Dutch.

These where found in farm land along the shoreline say 200 to 500ft from the beach. The odd coin has been found nearby but are not really old, mostly 1850-1910. Quite young considering the history of the town nearby.

What do you know about the marks?

Thanks

HH

1859

 

[sv_libertarian]

Fasteners from shipboard somewhere perhaps. Mebbe from a wreck or abandoned boat that went to pieces...

 

[1859large]

The mark is called the broadhead and was used to mark all property belonging to the crown or government of Great Britain. It has been used for centuries although I have not been able to determine when it came into use. All metal items like military weapons to parts of warships where marked with it. I can only guess that some property of the crown, likely a ship was disposed of nearby or came to grief and was used possibly as firewood or recycled into something else.(Fence posts?) These spikes, my buddies and I have found 3 so far scattered across 3 fields, don't appear burned but are broken and twisted possibly by the act of extracting them from the oak they might have been driven into. I doubt they came from a building as iron would have been much cheaper and warships where expected to have long service life.

So if you have or find a piece of metal with a similar mark you likely have something from colonial times that once belonged to the English Crown and most likely the military. Where we found these was a Crown colony until the 1830s when it became independent.

HH

1859