bluntchisel
Registered
Hi, Guys,
Went metal detecting today, and once again was amazed at the objects that find their way into fields. When I dug this up I promptly dropped it again, thinking I'd unearthed a relative of Golem! It was actually a casting of a monkey, and covered in mud as it was I thought it to be a fragment from a moulding of the classic "Three Monkeys" trio. However, once cleaned it is actually a monkey thumbing his nose at the viewer. It's made from a material as heavy as lead but which is likely to be an alloy, and the detail on the little bugger is amazing, particularly the fur and hair. (If this had been made of lead these details would have weathered off long before now.) So what is it then, I hear you ask?
Well, I've trawled the Internet but can find no reference to monkeys thumbing noses at humans, so I'm stuffed if I know what it is. The best guess I can make is that it's Early Georgian (so 1910 onwards) and possibly from a desk or mantle ornament. It doesn't help that the other three limbs have been broken off, probably by repeated ploughing. We often find the remains of Brittains lead soldiers and, because this too, is hollow maybe that's a clue? This will be placed in the box where I keep my "mystery objects", in the hope that one day they might be identified. What a wonderful hobby this is, where you can stride into a field and begin digging up coins and other artefacts and bygones that may date back to the first days when metals came into use in this great country of ours.
Regards to all,
Bob.
Went metal detecting today, and once again was amazed at the objects that find their way into fields. When I dug this up I promptly dropped it again, thinking I'd unearthed a relative of Golem! It was actually a casting of a monkey, and covered in mud as it was I thought it to be a fragment from a moulding of the classic "Three Monkeys" trio. However, once cleaned it is actually a monkey thumbing his nose at the viewer. It's made from a material as heavy as lead but which is likely to be an alloy, and the detail on the little bugger is amazing, particularly the fur and hair. (If this had been made of lead these details would have weathered off long before now.) So what is it then, I hear you ask?
Well, I've trawled the Internet but can find no reference to monkeys thumbing noses at humans, so I'm stuffed if I know what it is. The best guess I can make is that it's Early Georgian (so 1910 onwards) and possibly from a desk or mantle ornament. It doesn't help that the other three limbs have been broken off, probably by repeated ploughing. We often find the remains of Brittains lead soldiers and, because this too, is hollow maybe that's a clue? This will be placed in the box where I keep my "mystery objects", in the hope that one day they might be identified. What a wonderful hobby this is, where you can stride into a field and begin digging up coins and other artefacts and bygones that may date back to the first days when metals came into use in this great country of ours.
Regards to all,
Bob.
