What is this? What is It?!? Please identify...

[Red Raider]

The other question is why you would write in a paint marker on the side of a relic that is in extremely good condition. It looks like he just pulled it out of an attic somewhere. That piece should be in a museum based on the condition it's in and the seller be charged with Federal crimes for removal of relics from a protected land. But, as mentioned by others it was probably never on that part of the battlefield. @lelliott19 was this piece of equipment used by both Armies?

 

[Harman Farm]

Sorry about the double post..I don't know what happened.

 

[klongstreet]

Whilst i agree with you on all your points and especially with E Bay, there are relics that were dug before the NPS/ Federal laws came into being, therfore do have names/place found and covernance.
keith

 

[Jeff in Ohio]

Perhaps this is a "sock dryer"

 

[Harman Farm]

Perhaps this is a "sock dryer"

Nope. It's a scarificator. A little tool that makes you bleed.

 

[Copperhead-mi]

The other question is why you would write in a paint marker on the side of a relic that is in extremely good condition. It looks like he just pulled it out of an attic somewhere. That piece should be in a museum based on the condition it's in and the seller be charged with Federal crimes for removal of relics from a protected land. But, as mentioned by others it was probably never on that part of the battlefield. @lelliott19 was this piece of equipment used by both Armies?

How do you know that it wasn't removed and labeled by someone else before Gettysburg became a National Park or before enactment of the Archaeological Resources Protection Act?

 

[Rebforever]

I was going to say an ink well but y'all changed my mind.

 

[Johnny Dancer]

not really, relic pick-ups were common the day after the battle up to and beyond the day it became law to prohibit such things., Not sure when the Federal law went into effect. I have a wooden keg of Civil War shells gotten from the estate of farmer, and his forefathers that lived adjacent to a Virginia battle ground and as he plowed up the fields with a steel plow and a mule over the years , What came up? ordnance? Some of them loaded. The land was sold to the park service in the 1980's when the farmer died.

 

[Friction Primer]

I wonder how many new relics of the Battle will be found on Little Round Top by the National Park Service during its 18 month shutdown of that location?

 

[Woods-walker]

OK, here's what I don't get about all this relics selling online... knowing that it is at the very least a Federal offense to hunt for and remove from NPS or other federally protected land ANYTHING (not just relics from past events), why would you list something as being found and removed from a specific area that is well with the boundaries of the park??? Why not just say it was found in Gettysburg and just leave it at that?? That's a pretty nebulous answer considering all the privately owned land surrounding the town. If challenged you could say "I found it on private property".... End of conversation. Just look on eBay and you'll see what I mean. Someone has a piece of an " artillery shell " that supposedly was found at the PA memorial. That's just being stuck on stupid.

Well said @Harman Farm. (I love your regenental flag avatar)

 

[R. Porter]

A few eBay sellers will list things as coming from a museum that has gone out of business or is thinning out its collection to gain funds to purchase items they don't have. A few years back I got a book on the history of Civil War artifact collection and it started during the war itself. Apparently civilians would leave Washington DC to visit the scenes of battle and then pick up small arms that they found on the battlefield. When they tried to bring back their souvenirs to DC the provost guard would confiscate the relics claiming that they belonged to the U. S. government. After battles where the North won, soldiers would pull the buttons off the uniforms of dead confederate Apparently Gettysburg had more than its share of locals finding artifacts and starting private museums. So there are scenarios where things could have come from areas that are now prohibited without violating federal law. However, there are some that provide stories with their artifact that don't ring true. There was one auction for a Confederate naval officer's sword which he lost at the battle of Saylor's creek. I was able to determine that the sword in question was not the sword he had at the battle. I was able to do this because I found someone's masters thesis about this naval officer who happened to have written a journal which contained an account of this battle. In another case I was able to determine that an old, aged sword at auction was actually one that is currently being sold but was artificially aged to look the part. In both auctions the seller was saying that he was just repeating what the family it came from told him. You would think he would have learned by now...

 

[Jeff in Ohio]

A few eBay sellers will list things as coming from a museum that has gone out of business or is thinning out its collection to gain funds to purchase items they don't have. A few years back I got a book on the history of Civil War artifact collection and it started during the war itself. Apparently civilians would leave Washington DC to visit the scenes of battle and then pick up small arms that they found on the battlefield. When they tried to bring back their souvenirs to DC the provost guard would confiscate the relics claiming that they belonged to the U. S. government. After battles where the North won, soldiers would pull the buttons off the uniforms of dead confederate Apparently Gettysburg had more than its share of locals finding artifacts and starting private museums. So there are scenarios where things could have come from areas that are now prohibited without violating federal law. However, there are some that provide stories with their artifact that don't ring true. There was one auction for a Confederate naval officer's sword which he lost at the battle of Saylor's creek. I was able to determine that the sword in question was not the sword he had at the battle. I was able to do this because I found someone's masters thesis about this naval officer who happened to have written a journal which contained an account of this battle. In another case I was able to determine that an old, aged sword at auction was actually one that is currently being sold but was artificially aged to look the part. In both auctions the seller was saying that he was just repeating what the family it came from told him. You would think he would have learned by now...

Is the book you mention the 1978 book "The Illustrated History of American Civil War Relics?" That's a very interesting book, and gives a great overall background to the entire relic collecting field. It is not an encyclopedia or reference book, but written to cover the waves of types of collectors over the years, from the first collectors picked up items from the battlefield, then veterans gathering for reunions, then collections put together for display at museums, and private displays, through the start of metal detecting, etc. etc. etc.
Understanding the background of how and why collectors accumulated stuff, and later dispersed it, helps us understand how to evaluate stuff now.
Very interesting book, and I susptect I've spent more time looking it over than any single reference book.

 

[Johnny Dancer]

If a family owned property near a battel field, there was plenty of things to find, after many years of the National Park Service hounding them they sold the property to the Park Service and no one wanted to farm the land anymore! Many years ago a family that visited Wounded Knee immediately after the massacre, and they brought home articles and sold them over the years . There was no Park Service, nor Federal laws protecting such sites!

 

[Booner]

You all are wrong. It's a henway.

 

[R. Porter]

You all are wrong. It's a henway.

It depends on the breed and age.

 

[Booner]

It depends on the breed and age.

I've been waiting weeks for someone to ask me what a henway is. I suspect you know.

 

[R. Porter]

I've been waiting weeks for someone to ask me what a henway is. I suspect you know.

I've seen it suggested that, on average, it's 5 to 10 pounds. Then there was a discussion that indicated that age and breed were factors and I'm sure that the average weight has shifted since the Civil War period due to breeding and improved nutrition. Apparently it takes about a year before you can talk about henways, before that you have to restrict your discussion to pulletways. Does that sound about right to you?

 

[R. Porter]

Is the book you mention the 1978 book "The Illustrated History of American Civil War Relics?" That's a very interesting book, and gives a great overall background to the entire relic collecting field. It is not an encyclopedia or reference book, but written to cover the waves of types of collectors over the years, from the first collectors picked up items from the battlefield, then veterans gathering for reunions, then collections put together for display at museums, and private displays, through the start of metal detecting, etc. etc. etc.
Understanding the background of how and why collectors accumulated stuff, and later dispersed it, helps us understand how to evaluate stuff now.
Very interesting book, and I susptect I've spent more time looking it over than any single reference book.

Yes, that is the book! I liked the part about the Union soldier during the siege of Vicksburg who decided to start collecting Confederate bullets. He stood just out of range of the Confederate sharpshooters and would run over and pick up the bullets as they fell to the ground. Talk about Yankee ingenuity!

 

[Package4]

This object is now for sale on eBay. Seller has identified it in his auction and claims it was found on Gettysburg battlefield. For fun, I won't tell you just yet what he says it is. Can you identify this Civil War relic?

View attachment 390217

The closest this piece ever came to Culp's Hill was Bel Air Maryland and if you were to test the white paint it would be found to have been very recently done. The seller at one time had some very good relics, but has since decided that deceiving pays more!

 

[Jeff in Ohio]

The closest this piece ever came to Culp's Hill was Bel Air Maryland and if you were to test the white paint it would be found to have been very recently done. The seller at one time had some very good relics, but has since decided that deceiving pays more!

That white paint looks real modern.