DetectingWales.com

Hi all,

Found this yesterday in USK, at first I thought it was just a piece of old clag but it is bronze so thought i'd clean and get some opinions. It has a nice green patina when dry.

Appreciate its not easy working with pictures but any thoughts are most welcome  ;)

I wonder ifs not a [pommel of a sword or dagger(top of handle)..The shape and thick edges discount it as early type flat axe of the Bronze Age..Its early I think..

Good thought Rob,I can see what you mean,I wonder if it was a pommel in pre-worked state(rough casting).....that's if there were such a thing !!

Thanks both for you suggestions, I will take it to my FLO and see what he thinks too  ;)

After i dug it i thought it may have been a wedge for securing an axe head to the handle but then why chamfered both ends.

If its anything interesting i'll post it up, thanks again  ;D 

I am a stupid boy ,its most probably a pot leg of Medieval Skillen pot with a very thin bowl and three thick legs ..The legs of these pots come in all sizes and thickness..I have found quite a few and seen a complete one in a museum in Yorkshire ..Rob

Hi Rob,seems that I was also on the wrong track with regards to you "votive axe"
Now you've mentioned "pot-legs" I can see it much more clearly now. LOL !!
Hope you don't mind if I show a pot-leg on your blog,certainly wouldn't like to step out of line.
This bronze pot leg was detected with a Minelab SAFARI,on farmland in West Wales.
It was  at a depth of over eight inches.
And it weigh's in at a hefty fifteen and a half ounces,must been a hell of a pot !!

Have you checked to see if it's magnetic Chris ?

Hi Val,the answer to your question is a definate NO,it is not magnetic at all,so bronze it is !!
Thanks for the interest Val👍

The reason I ask Chris is because it looks like iron.  Given the fact that it's not valuable and there's a lot of early iron making around here it could be a good idea to file a corner and see what's underneath the patina.

Bloomery iron first smelt isn't magnetic and it doesn't rust and it looks that colour. Small ingots were common in small production situations and about 1lb was a common weight.

The almost complete skillet pot I saw Yorkshire had a very thin bowl in bronze ,that was full of holes and you see why the legs survive and not the bowl .. Val old bronze in the ground develops a natural iron pan on the surface..I have seen it on medieval pot legs,a Viking pommel,Roman coins and Bronze Age Axes..It does catch  us all out sometimes...........ROB......

Hi Val,thanks for further input,I have as you suggested taken a file to the "pot -leg" and there are no obvious colour changes as you suggest that may be present,I don't want to file off any more as ,I know its not valuable, but its quite a few hundred years old,and does not give me the right to partially destroy it !!

I'm sure you would have seen a beautiful gold glow if it was indeed copper.  Like you said it is probably several hundred years old and is equally as interesting as any coin. More so I think because not so many are recorded and not much interest is taken in them. Plus it says more about a field than any coin.
 

I thought id show this silver votive axe, its a old find but a recent picture ;)

Thanks for the example Dale judging by the size and workmanship on yours, i'm starting to discount anything votive!

I am intrigued now and look forward to an opinion from the museum, fingers crossed its not junk  ???

 

I bet they will say that it's a Roman Monopoly gaming piece!  ;D

my FLO has seen it now and wants to record it because it turns out that it's a section of a rapier blade  :o

Whey hey!!!part of a rapier,what a great find,very ,very, well done,great find,but my bit a bronze is still a "pot-leg"!!! :'(
Just goes to show,assume nothing,and let those that really know their stuff decide.👍

Thanks, I am quite pleased  ;D

Now it's been ID'd the piece makes sense, thanks for all the suggestions, the finding out is all part of the fun  8)

That"s a bit harsh mate...Without input by people like myself and others who have been in the hobby many years there would be no identification..Where the hell do you think the FLO officers learnt their trade ?.Partly through books,and their own museum collections...But the bulk of their knowledge comes from detectorists in the field who know what partefact is..I hold my hands up and this time I am wrong,but a photo does not give the info ,as holding the actual object does...Rob

Going through the PAS its surprising how many items are recorded wrong especially coins, and that's by the so called professionals.
I agree Rob there's some very knowledgeable detectorists out there and on the forums ;)   

 

I was down at a rally in Oxfordshire a few years ago run by the very professional Weekend Wanders ..The year before they had found a very important Saxons ladies grave..and  when  I was there the field next door was opened  up as part of the rally..About mid day I nticed the arkies ,a film crew,stewards and a big crowd of detectorists had moved into the bottom corner of the fieid...After a wander into the bottom corner and talking to some lads who had not been detecting long but had found some nice Roman coins,but they also had two big signals deep and thought they were hoards hidden under a packed stone surface...Then a JCB arrived and scraped down to the stone surfaces .Igot permission to run my detector over these surfaces  and there was no readings...clean as a whistle as iy was for everybody who tried them.When I got out and heard the female Archeologist explain to t.v. caneras that this was probably a Roman Villa with two hoards buried in the floor of house next to these big post holes..When she had stopped talking to the camera..I pointed out to her that there was no hoards as the lads were probably registering hot rocks and have you thought thes big holes filled with stone ,were actually foot pads to take the uprights in a very fine,but very rare Saxon hall...She laughed and there were rye smiles from the film crew who were listening to my theories
.But I was right when a few days later it was on T.V, that a rare Saxon hall had been found in Oxfordshire by detectorists...The same site and i met up with the guys who found the hot rocks..They were embarrassed ,but I said without you guys it would be lying undiscovered :)

Brings to mind the huge 'circle' I reported to one of my local Archies.  OOOH   AAARGH  OOOH  was the response. All excited, went away with photographic evidence and then nothing.  It's since been confirmed by LIDAR by another Archie in a different area, info passed on,  still nothing.  I don't need recognition but a polite thank you would have been nice, even if they can't or wont visit the site.

The truth is out there.