Chris

Ek and silver?  How about Eastman Kodak.

Rick


At 10:20 AM 7/28/2004, you wrote:
>Hello all,
>
>This past Monday while diving in shallow water (8-10 feet) off the east end
>of Long Island collecting eelgrass reproductive shoots (don't ask, it's my
>job) I came upon a small metal disk partially buried in sand that was
>eroding at the edge of the meadow.  When I unearthed the disk I found it to
>be heavy and assumed it was lead and thought it was some kind of weight for
>fishing gear.  After brushing off some of the encrusting growth, I could see
>that it had raised helvetic (?) initials "EK" molded into it composed of
>what has been described to me as raised beeds.  A closer look at the disk
>showed that at one time there were ferrous wires or pins (~60) set through
>the disk running around the perimeter.  Total demensions are 4.5 inches
>across, ~0.3 inches thick, weighing in at 753.2 grams or 1.66 lbs.  When I
>showed this to a friend who is very knowledgable about fishing gear and
>everything nautical he said he had never seen anything like it and did not
>think it was related to fishing it any way.  Upon furher examination we
>found that it would ring when struck and after scratching the back we came
>to the conclusion that it may actually be made of solid silver.  With this
>and the execution of the letters we surmised that it may be of 17th or 18th
>century origin and could have been some decoration for a trunk, harness,
>ship or garment?  Does this ring a bell for anybody out there?
>
>I can send pictures to whoever would like to take a crack at it, but chose
>not to attach the jpgs and clog your mailbox.
>
>Thanks in advance for any information you could provide.
>
>Chris Pickerell