You might try contacting the American Numismatic Association  money.org.They are, I think, the group in the US that is permitted to have forgeries in their possession. They have a large library and are very helpful answering questions.

David Hayes RPA
Virgin Islands

Kris Oswald <[log in to unmask]> wrote: A few American Civil War Camp sites I have excavated had examples of
reused lead bullets cast into American Coinage as well as face or back
impressions only ..the soldiers had time on their hands to be creative
for sure. but on the use of these products as blatant Forgeries for the
purpose of fraud I would have to say that gaming played a big part in
production for these as some were located in the same context and  depth
level's of carved chess pieces made of  3 ringer 58 and 69 caliber
bullet lead . Quite possible a
Secondary monetary system was in use if real produced money was
unavailable or in short supply.
Chit money in a sense.

Kris Oswald 
Michigan Archaeological Society 

-----Original Message-----
From: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
Henry Cary
Sent: Thursday, August 23, 2007 10:18 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Blacksmith Forgeries

HISTARCH,
I have a general inquiry about how many HISTARCH members have uncovered 
'blacksmith forgeries' at 18th and 19th Century sites.  We have just 
completed limited excavations of an 1812-1845  Royal Engineer Department

blacksmith shop at Fort Henry National Historic Site, Kingston, Ontario
and 
uncovered six lead plates that had been stamped with impressions of
British 
(a penny and shilling) and possibly French coins.  Our hypothesis is
that 
they were being used as blanks to create forgeries -specie being in
chronic 
shortage in the Canadas during the early 19th C. - but are unsure of
their 
prevalence in the archaeological record.  Has anyone found similar
stamped 
lead artefacts?

Henry Cary
Parks Canada Archaeological Services
Ontario Service Centre


>From: [log in to unmask]
>Reply-To: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY 
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Horseshoes,some ideas
>Date: Wed, 8 Aug 2007 12:05:39 -0400
>
>Horse shoes ...My favorite subject
>
>Yes, measure the shoe in all directions, length, width, thickness of
bars, 
>space in between bars, height of bars, height of toe, height of  heel,
size 
>of calks, nail hole size, the space between nail holes etc.  There are
over 
>1200 patents for different types and styles of  horseshoes, plus
patents 
>for toe and heel calks. And then another  group of patents for the
machines 
>to make them. And yes the machines  left marks that are unique.
>
>Not only should they be measured but look for makers marks, and mold
marks 
>on machine made shoes. On both machine made and hand made look  for
special 
>marks made by the horseshoer before he/she installed them  on a horse. 
>These marks could be a simple chisel mark made on a one  side so the 
>farrier can keep track of left and right while the shoe is  in the fire
too 
>letters or other embossed symbols so farriers could  keep track of
their 
>shoes and not be blamed for the bad work of other  farriers. Areas with

>strong unions or guilds also used marks.
>
>The first wide use of machine made horse shoes was in the civil war
when 
>the Union calvary started using shoe made by Henry Burden, the
inventor of 
>the first machine to make horse shoes. The south only had  hand made
shoes. 
>After the war the US army experimented with some  other types. One was
the 
>Goodenough shoe, this shoe was a cast shoe  and had a very different
shape. 
>The British army does not appear to  have used full machine made shoes 
>until late in the 19th century.
>
>The basic material used for horseshoes was some form of wrought iron.
A 
>material that could be reheated many times and shaped with out
becoming 
>brittle. Even the cast shoes were poured from similar  material. True
steel 
>does not seem to have been successful except in  the case of special
shoes 
>for race horses.
>
>Horse shoe nails should also be looked at closely. Hand made nails
were 
>still being used well into the 1870s, even where machine made  shoes
were 
>being used. Machine made nails have makers marks!! on the  bottom
inside 
>area of the nail head. I have removed nail heads from  100 year old
shoes 
>and found a makers mark that I was then able to date.
>
>What can be learned from horseshoes?
>
>The shape and style of horse shoes changed over time and can give us
some 
>additional markers for dating a site. The changes were due to
knowledge of 
>foot structure, technology of iron, blacksmithing skills,  the cost of 
>iron, the value of horses and the jobs being asked of the  horses.
>
>The horseshoe increased the energy out put of horses, mules, donkey
and 
>oxen. The presents or absents and/or type of horseshoes tells us a  lot

>about energy needs and the economic model of the people who  occupied a

>site. The attributes of the shoes help us fine tune our  understanding
of 
>that model.
>
>I have a ?data form? I use for recording horseshoes, If anyone wants a

>copy contact me off list.
>
>I would love to hear more about the shoes and nails that you are  
>recovering. I need to obtain data from more areas to include in the
book I 
>am preparing. Any information about horseshoes and horseshoe  nails
would 
>be greatly appreciated.
>
>Makers Marks!! Send them to me (both shoe and nail) and where possible
I 
>will give you some date ranges for when they were manufactured.

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