Mystery find.

Posts : 2871 Join date : 2010-06-02

From Frank.
Unearthed in the vicinity, any thoughts?
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Steve

Posts : 947 Join date : 2011-10-21 Location : Algoa Bay

Hi Rusteze,
Both agriculturally related, in my view.
The first being a metal wheel with the hub missing. from the front of a plough: and the second a cast iron wedge of some sort.
Probably unearthed in old mielie lands which surrounded the battlegrounds

regards

barry.

Subject: Re: Mystery find. Fri Sep 13, 2019 7:39 pm

Could be a component of Hale's rocket

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Subject: Re: Mystery find. Fri Sep 13, 2019 8:31 pm

Some further information. The diameter is 150mm and its thickness 30 mm. It was found mostly buried in a wash away some 250 below the surface.

Subject: Re: Mystery find. Sat Sep 14, 2019 8:19 am

Hi,

Its tempting to think (with the 'vents' - even though there are 4 instead of 3) that its is part of a rocket but a rocket was only about 3.75 inches across

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Ta

Simon

Subject: Re: Mystery find. Sat Sep 14, 2019 6:07 pm

In answer to the Pm's, yes it was found on the battlefield and yes it will be donated to the Talana Museum once I have finished research. In answer to Barry's question, it wasnt in an area that would have been used for any form of agriculture and secondly the front plow wheels were either the 230 artillery model CI wheels or the 300 skeleton. Or so I have been told. Salute

Subject: Re: Mystery find. Sat Sep 14, 2019 7:46 pm

What on earth are the 300 skeleton and 230 artillery model CI wheels?

Ta

Sime

Subject: Re: Mystery find. Sat Sep 14, 2019 7:51 pm

Hi Sime they are a type of Cast Iron wheels made in the late 1800's and 1900's.

Posts : 3326 Join date : 2009-03-03 Location : Devon

Frank Allewell wrote:: it wasnt in an area that would have been used for any form of agriculture

Hi Frank

I know what you have stated about the area it was found in, but could it be part of a seed machine like the picture. Dropped over time?

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Only a thought, please do not shoot me for it.

Andy

Subject: Re: Mystery find. Sun Sep 15, 2019 5:55 am

Morning Andy
Interesting, it could of course belong to any type of machinery. But would it have been used in remote Zulu land is probably the key? The western side of the mountain was farmed very extensivly, aerial photos from 1940 show a patchwork of fields, there was a farmhouse on the slope down to the manzimyama. So yes it could be from some form of agricultural machine.
Really all I can tell is that with its depth in the earth it would have to have been there a long time or had been deliberatly buried. So your guess is as good as any.

Posts : 2871 Join date : 2010-06-02

Whatever it was it must have taken quite a blow to crack it away from its axle. Possibility that this is scrap metal awaiting re-use in a small furnace - prospective assegai?
Steve

Subject: Re: Mystery find. Tue Sep 17, 2019 9:04 am

A Sack Barrow seems to be good bet, correct size wheels. That raises possibilities, depending on the age of the wheel.
There was once a shebeen, pub, on the battlefield. Just inside the gate on the right hand side, aproximatly where the NNC camp would have been situated. I have seen over the years Sack Barrows being used to move crates of beer between delivery trucks and outlets.
I also remember that in my early military days moving cases of ammunition around with a Sack Barrow.
The opinion of the SA Museum staff is that the wheel is mid 19th/early 20th century so could theoretically belong to both those potential era. The only real way of testing the age of the wheel is very expensive so for the time being there seems no way of progressing.

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