metal fence post?

[beachbug]

not barrens related (as far as i know) but you guys seem to have a lot of archaeological knowledge here so thought i would throw this out there.
my wife picked up a metal fence post (?) at a flea market this weekend. it is about 2 to 2.5 feet tall and solid metal with a hole through near the top.seems to me it is probably around 75 lbs or so!
has some design on it, hard to tell. poss word when i tried to bring it out with a rubbing but couldn't make it out.looks like a clover inside a spade shape near the top though.
anyone run across these and know what they may have been used for? never seen anything like it before.

thanks.

 

[bobpbx]

Man, that looks familiar. You ever see those little fences around fancy graves? They had iron rods for the rails. That's what that looks like.

http://images.google.com/imgres?img...um=10&hl=en&safe=off&rlz=1T4GFRC_enUS205US205

http://www.anthrobase.com/images_txt/Nielsen_F_S_03/matryozhka_grave.jpg

 

[Teegate]

I would have to agree.

Guy

 

[BillyB514]

Def looks like the ones seen around family plots and such in cemeteries.

 

[onehand]

place by your front door to wart off evil sprits and other unwanted visitors !!

 

[MarkBNJ]

Interesting that the hole is only in one side, though. Could have been a hitching post, I suppose, that the ring fell out of.

If it's a fence it surely is ornamental. Too short to be a functional fence.

 

[beachbug]

thats what i was thinking when i saw it. cemeteries are the only place i've seen with posts that small. most of them i've seen have the hole in 2 different sides, but i've occasionally seen them where it was a wide plot where there was a post or two in between the corners. i have never seen one made of metal though. they've always been stone.
just what i need, some spirit attached to it that my wife brought home along with this thing! like one ghost in the house isn't enough!

thanks for the input though everyone. and it is out front by the door now. looks kinda spooky at night. i think maybe i'll start using the back door.

 

[LARGO]

Interesting that the hole is only in one side, though. Could have been a hitching post, I suppose, that the ring fell out of.
If it's a fence it surely is ornamental. Too short to be a functional fence.

It's an end section?, hence only one hole. (my guess)
I've seen many short fences in cemetaries usually small sections designating a family plot within a larger area. The metal as opposed to stone though is odd to me. Jerseyman may have a take on this.

g.

 

[Jerseyman]

Well, for whatever reason, I failed to read this thread until now. Sorry, LARGO, that you asked for my help and I did not respond. I have examined the photos carefully and certainly the cemetery plot post and rail idea is a good one. However, the oddity, as noted by others, is the singular hole in the post. The metal used in fabricating the post is also somewhat puzzling, particularly if we are talking about cemetery usage.

Based on the Gothic-styled head of the post and the design motif, I suspect we are dealing with an item of ecclesiastical origins. Several thoughts come to mind including, most prominently, a railing as part of an altar. It appears the manufacturer sought to make the metal casting appear as stone and I am amazed that anyone would go to this trouble. Stone would have been much less expensive than a cast metal item.

When I have an opportunity, I will check some of my works on ecclesiastical architecture to see if I can be more definitive about this object.

Best regards,
Jerseyman

 

[bobpbx]

You guys keep saying a hole in one side, but I read the original post again and he says it was a through hole, meaning it could be a middle post.

 

[Teegate]

We need a photo of the design with it wet, and/or a chalk rubbing.


Guy

 

[BEHR655]

That post sure doesn't look like metal to me. I sure it's stone.

Steve

 

[LARGO]

As Jerseyman said, someone went to a degree of effort to make it appear as stone and it seems the original poster would not misrepresent.
While there has been no more dialogue, looking at the posts it seems MARKBNJ took the original post as I did and that BEACHBUG'S second post affirmed the hole in one side issue, unless I misunderstood.
If BEACHBUG is still reading, would it be possible to simply see the thing first hand? It is not as if a number of members are not in close proximity here. Just throwing it out there.

g.

 

[bobpbx]

As Jerseyman said, someone went to a degree of effort to make it appear as stone and it seems the original poster would not misrepresent.
While there has been no more dialogue, looking at the posts it seems MARKBNJ took the original post as I did and that BEACHBUG'S second post affirmed the hole in one side issue, unless I misunderstood.
If BEACHBUG is still reading, would it be possible to simply see the thing first hand? It is not as if a number of members are not in close proximity here. Just throwing it out there.

g.

Largo, read his second post again. He said...."most of them i've seen have the hole in 2 different sides, but i've occasionally seen them where it was a wide plot where there was a post or two in between the corners". He would not have said that unless the hole went all the way through. Also, look carefully at the hole. It is not plugged up, you are just looking at it from an angle slightly above the hole. The darkness is the "bottom" of the hole, which by the way is darker than that part of the hole nearer the outside.

PS: I vote that it is solid metal, most likely made in a foundry.

 

[MarkBNJ]

Yeah, it does look like metal on close inspection of the images. There are some slightly shiny and rounded features that give it away. As for the hole, I agree that the images aren't conclusive. If it goes all the way through then it could have been a middle post, and at least I would not have offered the hitching post theory. In any event, there are relatively few functional applications, so I agree with Jerseyman's sense that it is ornamental, and either from a chapel or cemetary, or perhaps some other building with an ornamental railing.

 

[LARGO]

Bob,
As always, you make solid points and have a good eye. I trust that without the object in hand it is tough to tell. All the other opinions here regarding the metal and the ornamental nature seem to be consistant. What is odd... how only one found it's way to a flea market. A sad truth as to how sites are robbed and the remains scattered to the four winds. It is a sadness I have seen firsthand. It is a shame there are no indications on it that reveal it's origins or placement. Does it really even have to be from Jersey?

g.

 

[bobpbx]

Bob,
As always, you make solid points and have a good eye. I trust that without the object in hand it is tough to tell. All the other opinions here regarding the metal and the ornamental nature seem to be consistant. What is odd... how only one found it's way to a flea market. A sad truth as to how sites are robbed and the remains scattered to the four winds. It is a sadness I have seen firsthand. It is a shame there are no indications on it that reveal it's origins or placement. Does it really even have to be from Jersey?

g.

No, it really doesn't have to be from Jersey. Know what I find even odder? That we still bury our dead in concrete vaults and oak caskets with velvet lining on the inside. Tell you the truth George, I think cemetaries are a waste of land, and not worth saving beyond, say, 100 years. I vote for rotating cemetary land. You buy the right to bury your loved one's ashes or remains in a simple pine box. You are also allowed a temporary tombstone. After 100 years the land is abandonded as a cemetary, the stone is removed and recycled, and the land preserved forever as simple open space.

 

[MarkBNJ]

No, it really doesn't have to be from Jersey. Know what I find even odder? That we still bury our dead in concrete vaults and oak caskets with velvet lining on the inside. Tell you the truth George, I think cemetaries are a waste of land, and not worth saving beyond, say, 100 years. I vote for rotating cemetary land. You buy the right to bury your loved one's ashes or remains in a simple pine box. You are also allowed a temporary tombstone. After 100 years the land is abandonded as a cemetary, the stone is removed and recycled, and the land preserved forever as simple open space.

I agree with you, although I think over historic time a lot of them disappear.

 

[bobpbx]

Heres an idea. Even better than pine:

http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/science/12/27/green.coffins.ap/index.html

 

[beachbug]

sorry, didn't catch the new messages here. I only really looked at it closely the first time my wife brought it home. It seemed to be metal. i can try chipping at the bottom i suppose and see what happens. I think i thought metal because of the grooves in the center of the hole as well. it is entirely possible i could be wrong

Yes the hole goes striaght through the post.

i will try to get a couple of pics that are better. the suggested wet and see if chalk comes up better than the crayon/wax rubbing.

I'll have to ask the wife if she spoke to the seller about it or where it may have come from when she purchased it.

Largo, sending you a PM.