Oriental Whatzit (just one item from my "mystery junque" drawer)
lordmarcovan
Posts: 43,198 ✭✭✭✭✭
I posted this for discussion on the World Coin Forum, though it's obviously not a coin. I figured some of those skilled in Asian languages might help decipher the squigglies.
This bronze disc was found in an old churchyard in Swannanoa, North Carolina. The church was established in 1794, though the original building is long gone. The first church on the site was almost certainly a log structure. 1794 was only a few years after the first white settler in the area came to that region of Western NC, and he was killed by the Indians.
I personally would be surprised if this item is older than the 19th century, but it's now been suggested by some that it is much, much older than that. It's an interesting mystery. Perhaps I need to pull out some more of my mystery finds and photograph them. One little tubular brass piece I dug long ago and threw in the drawer later turned out to be a ramrod guide from a Revolutionary War era Brown Bess musket, so you never know, I guess...
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It could also be an old scale flat plate used to weigh powdered or other small items upon. Perhaps the writing states how much the plate weighs for taring purposes. Just a thought...
LM, what is the oldest thing you have found metal detecting? (man-made so the teeth and things like that dont count
I frankly do not believe it is from the 1400s or 1500s, no matter what the characters say. More likely it is an 1800s or 1920s replica of a Ming Dynasty whatever. It IS old, there is no doubt of that. But I cannot imagine it being older than the 19th century.
it is.
Al
gene2393
It isn't a coin. Just what it is I still don't know, but there have been some interesting theories in that other thread.
That thing musta really made your detector go crazy.