Back to the nail berm

Bagonails G-man and I went back out to the berm today to try and sift through the square nails. I have a couple of questions for you guys. What do you think the sharp spike in the bottom right corner of the first picture was used for? What is the round brass object with the iron pin next to it? Did they have tin cans in 1859? P.S. Note the star punched into the brass object next to the pin.[img][/img]

curious finds.. cool.. Daniel needs to take a wack at these...

Ramrod thimble is what it is. The star suggests that its not homemade as many were. It might be a particular gunsmiths mark but its likely off a military rifle of some sort.

Caprock hit the nail on the head with the ramrod thimble.As for your tin can there Ill try this from memory.
Canning basically beagn about the 1820's to Present.Crimping was lets round everything off,Crimping about 1900,so your is older.
Yours is between 1820-1900, now hand soldering was kinda uneven and messy till the 1890's and Machine soldering which applied the solder evenly was like about 1883,so your tin can that I see are rom lets say 1880-1900.
BTW! the big nail is a spike.And all your square nails are manufactured so Id say they are all after 1860's. And in the first photo you have two horseshoenails.Look on the head of them and see if you see a design, maybe like a globe.If not they'll be plain.

Wtg Cap and Daniel.. Good to have these guys here to help us ID finds... thanks guys..