Metal Detecting

Hello, while labelling and organising my finds from the year came across this mystery oval object which I found a couple of months ago and still haven't been able to ID. Found on pasture in rural Cornwall. The indentations on one side and raised dots on the other give it an interesting texture. It's extremely thin.

One of those curious objects that I'd love to ID. Does anyone have any suggestions? Thanks for any help!

It's pressed metal so not too old.

I think that it might be a blank for making a thimble or something similar. If it is it has to date from after the late 18thC when the technology for pressing and deep drawing brass was invented.

fred wrote: Fri Mar 07, 2025 7:27 pm I think that it might be a blank for making a thimble. If it is it has to date from after the late 18thC when the technology for pressing and deep drawing brass was invented.

Interesting thought! The texture is rather thimble-esque. Thanks for that.

Yep. It’s an unshaped beehive thimble. 15th century and a very uncommon find in that state. Well done indeed.

I agree with Fred

Some links for thimbles history

https://www.colchestertreasurehunting.c ... imbles.htm
https://thimbles.host-ed.me/wisbister/Evolution.html

bodvoc wrote: Fri Mar 07, 2025 7:45 pm Yep. It’s an unshaped beehive thimble. 15th century and a very uncommon find in that state. Well done indeed.

But weren't beehive thimbles cast?

I will follow this topic! Interesting ... thanks for sharing, Liam

Can't see it being a blank for a thimble, just the wrong shape, no idea what it is though!

Thanks everyone for your ideas. I'm intrigued by the suggestion that it might be a blank for a thimble, but have struggled to find any similar examples of a blank to compare with. The link that Sven shared was helpful describing the production process:

"In the 16th century, purified zinc became available and when alloyed with copper yielded a brass that was refined and malleable. The metal was rolled into a flat sheet, small disks of metal were cut and then these were hammered into a cup shaped mould. This process is known as ‘deep drawing’ and the dimples were then added by hand by the master thimble maker"

Like LuckyB, I'm still trying to get my head around the shape and how that corresponds to a thimble, but the thickness and texture do seem a good match. After a year of detecting I've only found one complete thimble, and one partial one, so am very much a novice when it comes to identifying age of thimbles, and this has been a fun learning curve for me. Thanks for the helpful suggestions and useful links. If anyone else has any thoughts I'd love to hear them!