Metal detecting….what is this?

[sea2summit]

Daughter got a metal detector for Christmas so we’ve been poking around a bunch since then. Found this today around a cemetery that dates back to the first part of the 1800s abandoned about 70 years ago and the surrounding area has been planted with pulp pine for I’m not sure how long. Found it in three parts and this is what it looked like after a light application of a wire wheel. Some sort of cable guide? One of the holes, that appear to be mounting holes, is very obvious augered out more than the other and visible detail of the wear around the edge makes me think it isn’t super old.

Any guesses/help?

 

[2manyrocks]

Looks like part of some kind of horse/mule hitch.

 

[5030]

Dang... You use fingernail polish...lol

 

[newbury]

Dang... You use fingernail polish...lol

And whoever has those hands and is holding the object has hair down to their midsection.

 

[2manyrocks]

It is the piece that fits on the end of a plow drawn by either a horse or a mule. That's where the animal harness connects to the plow. "horse drawn plow clevis"

 

[sea2summit]

It is the piece that fits on the end of a plow drawn by either a horse or a mule. That's where the animal harness connects to the plow.

Think you’re the winner, thanks!

 

[oosik]

It was found using your daughters metal detector??? It's TREASURE - man, don't you know treasure.

 

[MossRoad]

Never ceases to amaze me how fast one can get a correct answer on this forum!

 

[sea2summit]

It was found using your daughters metal detector??? It's TREASURE - man, don't you know treasure.

I'm pretty sure I get just as giddy as she does every time it starts beeping. I'm just there for digging the holes but I still have a great time, I can understand how it could suck you in as a hobby. We've found lots of things but this was the first thing that's really part of local history.

 

[stuckmotor]

My brother found some people detecting metal on our property. They had crossed a ditch and fence to detect out in a pasture. A woman in the group claimed her wedding ring had jumped off her finger and flown out into the field.

 

[RjCorazza]

I never would have guessed that. I metal detect on my property that has been farmed since the early 1700's and have found lots of harness related items, but nothing like that.

 

[Fuddyduddy1952]

I have a White's detector for years. My Dad (rip) was cleaning gutters and lost his wedding band and very distraught since it hadn't been off his finger in 50 years. I found it and never saw someone that elated.
I wrote White Corp, they published the story in their newsletter and sent me a deep scan attachment for my detector.
I need to detect their again because I've found so many interesting things, a steam whistle, tiny judges gavel for a watch chain, silverware at a slave cabin site, coins (old but nothing real valuable...yet!).
I recently got a pin-point detector so it will be faster finding things.
Just finding Dad's wedding band was worth it. He has it with him now

 

[grsthegreat]

I found a 2 ft piece of railroad rail and some draft horse shoes and nails from late 1800’s logging site in a cedar grove. Was about 18” underground when located near the base of an ancient cedar. Theres records of the trees removed and when it was done. The piece of rr steel was used as a portable anvil during horse logging. I now have that in my shop and i use it.

 

[oosik]

I have a metal detector. Use it to find the nuts/bolts dropped on my lawn when working on the tractor. It's save quite a few trips into the Kubota dealer.

I've even tried it out and around the old homestead buildings. NAILS, spikes - old bits of iron. I avoid the immediate area around the old building sites with the tractor. Too many nails & old rusty spikes. The old homesteader never knew a nail/spike he didn't like.

 

[MossRoad]

When I was a little kid I went with my uncle to a local park beach on Lake Michigan to watch him metal detect. By a tree in a corner of a parking lot he found a case of beer buried in a bag of ice under the soft sand. He drank one and buried it back up.

 

[newbury]

I have a metal detector. Use it to find the nuts/bolts dropped on my lawn when working on the tractor. It's save quite a few trips into the Kubota dealer.

I've a several of the HF 18 in. Magnetic Tool Holders on lengths of 1/4" nylon rope scattered amongst my shops, plus numerous strong neodymium magnets. I keep them handy for retrieving nuts and bolts that roll under furniture, drop in the grass etc.

 

[bdhsfz6]

A few years back, I hired a contractor to replace my barn roof. He subbed the job out to an outfit that used day laborers who spoke no English. They showed up on the windiest day of the year and spread a large tarp on the ground to catch nails & debris as they stripped off the old roofing. I tried to tell them the wind would pick up the tarp but they had no idea what I was talking about and just kept on working. Sure enough, a few minutes later, a gust of wind lifted the tarp and scattered the nails & debris all over the adjacent field.

My wife and I spent the next week with a metal detector and bar magnet cleaning up the mess the crew left behind. We picked up a 2 gallon bucket full of nails and other metal pieces.

If it weren't for the metal detector, I'm sure my tractor tires would have found them!

 

[Fuddyduddy1952]

Over the years here S.Central Va. I've found some things, nothing of value. I did find a Civil War minie ball near a back door. One melted slag a Civil War buff friend said Confederate soldiers would melt bullets down so Union soldiers couldn't use them.
A few things. One decorative piece seems to have a really thin silver plating, maybe it was on a belt or horse tack?

 

[MossRoad]

Many years ago I lost something in the yard and went to Radio Shack and picked up one of these Treasure Finders. It worked. Keys or ring or something.

Years later, at our new-to-us house, we had it re-roofed and sided. There were a lot of nails in the grass. I've mentioned before that I offered my kid a nickel for every nail she found....

That was enough incentive for her. I sometimes think I'm still paying that deal off! She found way more than I expected!

 

[dodge man]

I’m a retired land surveyor and spent my fair share of time swinging a metal detector. Unfortunately I dug up a lot of things that looked like what the op found instead of property corners.