Better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick.

[2ndoldman]

Monday, chores had to be done around the house first so I didn't get out until late in the day.
Once again the choices were limited due to the drought here so surface hunting was the call.
Even with sensitivity reduced to 4 the junk still came in loud and clear.
All of this was just inches below the grass roots in a playing field.

There was some clad to be had. And finally a penknife in good nick.

And one silver keeper to round out the day.

On Tuesday morning the urge to hit the Gorge took over so I got wet.
And I'm glad that I did.
The brass is not as plentiful as before but some of it is interesting.

I searched for more of the horn but could not find any more pieces of it.
This one is likely not as old as the patent date suggests

Can anyone suggest what the little square item is. I thought at first that it was a small picture frame.
But how would you get pics in or out of it?

The find from the water in my opinion is this little snap. It reads THE PIONEER registered.

[2ndoldman]

Later in the afternoon Jon texted to see if I was out and we met up after 4:30 for a couple of hours.
More trash was hauled out of the park.

Including these. Which were immediately dumped into the nearest trash can.

Gas was paid for and junk bling was found.

Although two nice silvers did show up in my pouch.
The first is an earring bangle. no markings on this piece.
It hits the CTX at 12/48 every time I try it.

And the last was a nice chunky spinner ring.

[painshill]

Is that actually a horn, Bruce? It looks to me like it might be an old ear trumpet (for the hard of hearing)!

[2ndoldman]

Roger that is something that I did not even consider.
You may be very right in your assumption. I was wondering about the lack of connection points of other parts.
I bet that the one band about midway up could easily be for a handle.

[painshill]

Roger that is something that I did not even consider.
You may be very right in your assumption. I was wondering about the lack of connection points of other parts.
I bet that the one band about midway up could easily be for a handle. [ATTACH=CONFIG]n170890[/ATTACH]

Yes... they sometimes had a short handle about halfway along and I have also seen one with a collar and loop to take a cord or strap so you could hang it round your neck. There would also have been a small fitment at the end made of horn, ivory or something similar to comfortably fit in your ear. At first I thought it might be from a "Stroh" violin, which had a long "trompette" to amplify the sound but I think the flared end on those is always straight, in the manner of a hunting horn.

[2ndoldman]

Roger you always look at things from a whole different point of view from mine.
Thank you very much for your input, I was going to toss that into the junk brass pile now I will have to put it aside into the curio pile.

[rmartin]

Crazy stuff Bruce. That brass screw that is all bent up.........how in the world?

[2ndoldman]

I know what you mean Ray. It takes a lot of force to bend brass.

[painshill]

Does the small metal case have the correct dimensions for a cigarette case Bruce? It looks like the frame from the kind that had tortoise-shell as the top and bottom. That would have created additional depth on the case as you see it now because the they used flat pieces pressed into shape and glued into the frame. I would guess tortoise-shell would be very prone to rotting and not survive too long in wet ground.

[2ndoldman]

Roger that case came out of the saltwater. So almost any type of material would have rotted away. The dimensions are 3" X 3 14" X 5/16"

[painshill]

Undoubtedly a cigarette case. The standard industry length for cigarettes was 2 3/4 inches and stayed that way for a long time. The first "king size" brands were around 3 to 3 1/4 inches and initially marketed as "long".