Crotal Bell

[DWtexas]

I had the opportunity for a return trip to Ohio and a chance to hunt with my ol' huntin' buddy Bill. We took a drive out in the country and located a home built in 1849. After a short visit with the owner to gain permission, we went to work (the only kind of work that's actually fun). It didn't take long for Bill to start digging some nice keeper coins (a mercury and a few wheaties). I wasn't quite so lucky. Still I kept swinging and starting working those iffy signals. I finally got one that sounded pretty good and cut a plug. About that time the owner came out and asked if she could watch. I really wasn't in a position to say no, so I invited her over. I was trying to impress her with my surgical removal and clean cut plug. Unfortunately, the target was much deeper than my detector had indicated. I continued to dig down to the target and laid a towel down to catch the extra dirt I was pulling up. The owner asked why I was being so careful. I explained I was trying my best to minimize any damage to the yard. She said, "Well you can't do any worse than what the moles have done, do you want me to go get a bigger shovel?" On that note, my progress was a little quicker but I continued to use my trusty digger. I would have given up on the target if it weren't for several factors: I had just traveled from Texas to Ohio for the opportunity to make older finds, the house was pre-Civil War and I had an audience. It's one thing to dig a deep hole and give up on it. It's another to have someone watch you do it. So I continued to dig...and dig....and dig. Finally I scooped out a handful of dirt and saw the edge of my target sticking up through the solid dirt at the bottom of the hole. My target was 17" down - i didn't know whether to be proud my old Explorer XS had gone so deep or to be ticked off because my old Explorer XS had gone so deep. Now that I knew exactly where the target was, I removed it with the steady hand of a kid playing the old game Operation. When I figure out what I'd found, I got pretty excited and couldn't contain myself. I finally had my first crotal bell. Now I have no real idea of how old it is. I've been digging long enough to know that just because a target is deep and at a location with some history, it's not always old. Just the same, I can check it off of my list of "things I'd like to find". I've attached a picture of my find in the hopes that one of you might know a little more about it than I do. The picture is really poor quality, but the best I could do with my telephone. It looks to be a one-piece bell, sunburst pattern on the bottom half only, four holes in the top half and a number "7" stamped on the bottom where you would usually find initials. The ball in the middle is still there but rusted heavily. The rest of the bell has a nice brown patina to it. If you have an information, I'd sure appreciate you sharing it. If not, thanks for taking the time to read my long-winded version of the simple question, "Hey guys, I found a bell. Any idea how old it is?"

 

[John - Maryland]

SEE:http://classicbells.com/Info/Info.htm

 

[DWtexas]

Thanks for the quick response. After checking out the website, I feel pretty confident the bell was made between 1845 and 1920...and that's old enough for me to call it a good find.

 

[TokenDigger]

Congratulations! I got lucky and found three in a row once - I think they were attached to a piece of leather that rotted away. I never got one at 17 in.. though. Yours looks really nice and a little larger than ones I find. Thanks for sharing and happy hunting.