Antique Copper

[fancypants]

Here's a little Copper-Age 'American' first nations spearpoint (as found) that an old friend sent me today , as a holiday gift .

7 - 3/8 " long (if unbent) & about 11/32" thick blade @ it's thickest .

Along with it was also sent the coprolite , since my friend knows that I like old s**t .

 

[talesofthesevenseas]

Cool! What region were these found in?

[fancypants]

The only region that I'm sure these came from was 'from the ground' .... I sent an e off to my friend who's on vacation down in the desert S.W. snowbirdin' it .

Might take a couple of days for a reply ....

I think the spearpoint was found in Minnesota .

I've seen smaller ones in rural Minnesota , they'd show up when/where they'd cut in a new road .

[KC]

I'm not familiar with that region fancy!  LOL

[fancypants]

Yup KC , it's an odd area , but usually just a step or two away ; just look above sea-level & you'll most likely find it .... seems strange that they don't mark it down on the maps .

My head's too far in the clouds these days to be rootin' round @ ground level .

[cogar]

Fancypants, thanks for posting that.

I was completely clueless about that subject and had to read up on it .......

and found this great web site that tells you everything ya want to know about the Copper Culture with dozens n' dozens of pictures of copper tools, etc.

I'm still amazed of the fact that I've never heard about or even read about it mentioned anywhere. I'll hafta agree with the author of this article, a private collector of such artifacts, that the learned "experts" really don't want to recognize the fact that native North Americans were metalurgists in their own right.

North America's First Metal Miners & Metal Artisans
http://copperculture.homestead.com/

[hosman321]

I love them both, what cool gifts! I have a really cool piece of coprolite but different than yours. I think mine is dino doo. Is that one turtle? I don't know very much about that crap.

[KC]

Wow cogar!  Thanks for the read.  I gotta admit I hadn't only heard of this either.  So much to learn.....

Now that I think of it....we would be full of ourselves to think it only happened after...

...fourteen hundred ninety-two, when Columbus sailed the ocean blue.He had three ships and left from Spain;He sailed through sunshine, wind and rain.
He sailed by night; he sailed by day; He used the stars to find his way.  A compass also helped him know, How to find the way to go.
Ninety sailors were on board; Some men worked while others snored. Then the workers went to sleep;  And others watched the ocean deep.
Day after day they looked for land; They dreamed of trees and rocks and sand. October 12 their dream came true, You never saw a happier crew!
"Indians!  Indians!"  Columbus cried; His heart was filled with joyful pride. But "India" the land was not; It was the Bahamas, and it was hot.
The Arakawa natives were very nice; They gave the sailors food and spice. Columbus sailed on to find some gold To bring back home, as he'd been told.
He made the trip again and again, Trading gold to bring to Spain. The first American?  No, not quite. But Columbus was brave, and he was bright.

[waywardangler]

Good one, hosman!  Crap happens.

[fancypants]

Thanks for all the comments , folks .

Got a clarification about where the spearpoint was found ... it was Wisconsin (pass the crow , please) , with a guesstimate of around 7000 BC as it's age .

When I first became semi-aware of the whole copper-culture thing , most of the information was primarily available to academics & a bit obscure for the layman (me) to find .
Kudos & thanx to cogar for the posted link ( congrats for joining the '1k posting club' too) & to KC for the Columbus pictures in my head .

I don't know where from or what kinda ca-ca it is , hosman321 .

[cogar]

WOW, ....... 1,000 posts ........ and .....

Total time logged in: 15 days, 17 hours and 47 minutes

Time sure flies when you are enjoying yourself.

Thanks, FP

[KC]

Welcome to the "nuts over antiques" category cogar!

[hosman321]

Here's my dino doo. It has lots of quartz in it. All kinds of cool minerals can be found in coprolite, I think they are very strange yet awesome fossils. I consider fossils natural antiques.

[fancypants]

Nice poo , hosman321 .

Guaranteed (non-humanoid/hominid) antiques !