hand carved lead???

[Don by the lake]

Happy New Year to everyone,
I just bought this item on ebay and have it in my possesion now. It was advetised as a hand carved lead peice dug from a civil war site in the Bermuda Hundred acre site in Virginia. It's a great looking peice and could very well be carved. Had to have it! What do you think about it?

[AlArchie]

Looks like a nice piece no matter what the source! Hard to tell if it's hand carved lead though just from the photo. Check it over closely for a casting mark somewhere...if it's a lost wax casting, there won't be one so it's still a question..

Is that a signature CV on the side? You might research that if it is.

Al

[steve brown]

Looks to be very old. I think it's a casting because it doesn't,t have a lot of undercuts. Check to see if there are any mold lines on the length of the arms, hands, legs and feet.
Steve Brown Woodcarving

[Don by the lake]

Steve,
The cowboy and water on the top appear to be seperate from the wash tub and fastened together. The underside of the tub shows where the top peice may have been swedged over to hold the two sections together. I Contacted the seller for more info and he said it was dug from the site of a civil war hopital. It weighs about 1 3/4 lb.

[Lynn O. Doughty]

Now that is a neat find. I'd also say it was cast but whether cast of carved it's still a neat piece. You ought to post the photo and description of it over on that other current thread "casting or carved". It would tie in nicely!

[Dull Knife]

Originally Posted by Don by the lake

Happy New Year to everyone,
I just bought this item on ebay and have it in my possesion now. It was advetised as a hand carved lead peice dug from a civil war site in the Bermuda Hundred acre site in Virginia. It's a great looking peice and could very well be carved. Had to have it! What do you think about it?

I'm really skeptical about any thing that was 'found' on a Civil War site.
A few years ago, I and my better half were in Virginia to see the home of Robert E. Lee.

I had a chance to buy a Confederate belt buckle that had
a minnie ball embedded in the face of it.

I decided to pass on it as I figured that any one could have made it by shooting the bucklet with an old Civil war rifle.

.

[Hi_Ho_Sliver]

lol...thats a lot of assumptions there! Assuming someone had an old civil war rifle...assuming they could hit the broad side of a barn with it (especially at a small target like a buckle) and assuming they had a civil war buckle that most likely would be worth more in original condition.....lol........

[Don by the lake]

I have seen that belt buckle thing on Pawn Stars. It's a pretty common farce I believe. I really think this is the real McCoy though. The guy had a lot of other civil war finds he was selling and he seemed quite sincere in the fact that he found the peice 20 years ago and he wanted someone else to enjoy having it as much as he did. I like it!

[Dull Knife]

Originally Posted by Hi_Ho_Sliver

lol...thats a lot of assumptions there! Assuming someone had an old civil war rifle...assuming they could hit the broad side of a barn with it (especially at a small target like a buckle) and assuming they had a civil war buckle that most likely would be worth more in original condition.....lol........

actually there are lots of Civil War weapons still around, in museums.
And then there's the folks who can make exact replicas of these weapons, and who like to re inact the battles of that war.

as to hitting a belt buckle, not so hard to do, if you're a short distance from the target....replica buckles are for sale on the internet......(try Ebay).