Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Buried Treasure Puzzler



Last Sunday, I was digging up some buried treasure I had stumbled upon in my forest, when the mattock pulled this oddity up from the sand.
This is not the treasure, but it is metal and very heavy.
I'm puzzled, but am leaning towards some kind of agricultural or heavy equipment weight. Don't they put weights on plows and such?
Or am I totally off course and it's a ...

19 comments:

threecollie said...

Hmmmm, nothing I have ever seen before

Sharon said...

I'm clueless. Is that some sort of emblem or logo stamped on the top?

Anonymous said...

They're orc muffins. Clearly they didn't turn out the way the baker had hoped, but I bet they were a great lesson :D

Wonder if you can find the recipe?

Gin said...

If it's lead, I'll wager it's intended for melting and pouring balls.

Anonymous said...

I'm stumped.

SophieMae said...

I'm clueless, as well, but am very interested in finding out the answer. Your treasure looks similar to some things I found out back, but have yet to dig up.

kathy a. said...

the shapes -- why bother if they only needed weight? there is some story behind them, but no idea what it is.

Anonymous said...

I'm clueless, but impressed!

Anonymous said...

The shape suggests a form with octagonal recesses connected by channels to allow poured molten metal to flow evenly throughout the form. Since it doesn't look like the shape serves any functional purpose, I vote for either simple weights, or for forms to store metal to be melted and poured into other forms later.

h said...

I'm going with molds for some sort of molten metal.

Anonymous said...

skunk ape droppings?

R.Powers said...

3C,
Me neither!

Sharon,
Yes, but I have not cleaned it up enough to pay attention to it yet.

Mrs. S,
I knew there was a logical answer.

Gin,
I think it's lead.

Pablo,
Join the club.

Sophie,
I went walking and marking treasure. Some was up and some was buried.

Kathy A,
The story eludes me ...

Mo,
Clueless is a familiar state of being for me.

Mark,
Agreed. They might must be lead ingots, for melting.

Artfulsub,
I think they may be the "to be melted material" for molds.

R.Powers said...

Kmoo2,
Painful if so :)

Anonymous said...

I was thinking it might be some sort of ingot, a way to store the metal until it is melted down for some other use. Artfulsub suggested it first, so if there's a prize, I guess he should get it.

MinorcanMeteorolgist said...

I would agree with the others who said that it was likely an ingot. But I really am not sure.

Dr. Know said...

Looks like a lead pig to me.
Used as the basis for casting old ball ammunition.

Thunder said...

They definitely look like they were cast on purpose, but what the?

Richard said...

Hi,

Just discovered your blog and have been working my way thru the older posts.

Your Buried treasure is actually babbitt ingots. I have a couple of these same shape with the same logo on them. Babbitt was used for bearings on old cars & tractors as well as machinery. The bearings were poured as opposed to insert bearings like used on modern cars. I have a few antique Fords so I've seen my fair share of these!

You can take a knife and scrape it, and it will look like lead as lead is a main ingredient in babbitt.

Anonymous said...

OK HERE YOU GO, THE TRUTH. MY BRO AND I USED TO PLAY WITH THEM AS A KID IN EARLY 60'S. WE FOUND THEM ON A CONSTRUCTION SITE. THAY WERE TO SEAL CAST IRON PIPES TOGEATHER FOR THE HOMES PLUMING AND SEWER LINES