antique roadshow

This past weekend, Charlie was in the back yard doing yard work. These days, that's pretty much all he does when he's not sleeping or eating. It certainly seems that he's really been enjoying my new birthday present (which I have yet to use...).

So he's digging out a very old tree stump, by hand with a spade, when all of a sudden he hears, "CLINK! CLINK!" He stops digging and sees that there is some kind of metal object jutting out of the ground. He clears it away and discovers what looks like a 7-inch spear.

Before I continue any further, I should probably interject that a few months ago, we had some drywall repair work done. The man that was here repairing our walls had immigrated from Russia and was a huge American History buff. As I stood watching him spackle the walls - hoping that I could commit to memory his technique so I could do it myself and save $500.00 the next time - he mentioned that in his spare time, he likes to peruse various properties with his metal detector.

He told me that there is a plethora of 18th and 19th century artifacts buried in the soil around these parts, ranging from belt buckles to spent shell casings, to old metal cups and spoons. Apparently, he isn't allowed to use his metal detector on public lands, so is restricted to private property. Then he eyed our back yard and said, "I wouldn't be surprised if you have a few things back there..."

I'm certain that the first 10 years of my life spent in Concord Massachusetts, has something to do with my fascination of history. So when our drywall repair man highlighted the possibility of us finding something in our back yard ... I instantly imagined troops camped out on the hill, gathering water from the creek.

Which brings me back to this thing that Charlie found in the yard, approximately 18 inches below the ground surface. It's 7-inches long and is definitely weathered. It has a loop on one end and is rather sharp and pointy, with an indentation that runs around the entire front. There's also a flat part on the back which looks like it fit in to something else.

Before we have this thing carbon dated, or sprint over to Martinsburg, West Virginia ... what do you think it might be? Does it look like a Civil War era artifact, perhaps a spear?

Or more like the tip of a gardening tool, circa 1980?