• Forum server maintanace Friday night.(around 7PM Centeral time)
    Website will be off line for a short while.

    You may need to log out, log back in after we're back online.

Help on Crotal Bell

Silverhorse65

Elite Member
Joined
Nov 24, 2020
Messages
1,343
Location
Iowa
Attempted my first farm field hunt this past Sunday in Southwest Iowa. The field used to belong to my wife's grandparents. I was hunting where there old, two-story farm house used to sit before being demolished about ten years ago. Didn't find much with this first hunt, lots of trash signals, but did pull out a bucket lister.

Found this crotal bell and was wondering if anyone on here had any information on the maker's mark. From what my research has told me so far, looks like it's late 18th/early 19th century based on design. Unfortunately, I've found nothing tying the maker's mark to any specific maker.

Any further information would be greatly appreciated.
 

Attachments

  • crotal bell maker's mark.jpg
    crotal bell maker's mark.jpg
    24.9 KB · Views: 688
  • crotal bell number one.jpg
    crotal bell number one.jpg
    23.9 KB · Views: 802
I believe your makers mark would be the size of the bell, in this case looks like a size 1. Not positive, but that's my opinion. Very nice find, crotal bells are always a fun dig, congrats!
 
Congrats on a beautiful crotal bell!!! That is a bucketlister for me as well. I wish I could be of some help on the makers mark for you. Again great find!!!
 
Heck of a nice find for sure and looks like an area that would be definitely worth going back to. The petals on the bottom are typically found on older ones made of tombac material and would probably be late 1700’s to early 1800’s. Hopefully it jingles. Great find and I’m still waiting for my first complete one
 
Yes CT, it does jingle! That was the best part. I've watched many on youtube videos dig these up, especially out East. Unfortunately, most come out of the ground in pieces. Mine was found right along where the fence line used to be up by the road and driveway. I'm wondering if my wife's grandmother maybe hung it on the fence as a decoration at holiday time? Will never know since she passed in the early 90's.
 
There's a link somewhere in "Help to Identify Finds" on crotal's. It helped me Identify mine in a couple minutes. I'm sorry, but I don't remember what page
 
Attempted my first farm field hunt this past Sunday in Southwest Iowa. The field used to belong to my wife's grandparents. I was hunting where there old, two-story farm house used to sit before being demolished about ten years ago. Didn't find much with this first hunt, lots of trash signals, but did pull out a bucket lister.

Found this crotal bell and was wondering if anyone on here had any information on the maker's mark. From what my research has told me so far, looks like it's late 18th/early 19th century based on design. Unfortunately, I've found nothing tying the maker's mark to any specific maker.

Any further information would be greatly appreciated.


https://classicbells.com/proddetail.asp?prod=lsAEggSp01. Hope this helps! Oldest i found was A William Bevin!!!
 

Attachments

  • 20200425_144811.jpg
    20200425_144811.jpg
    66.8 KB · Views: 471
Thanks for the links Copet and Doug. Given the info in the links, I'd date it late 18th/early 19th century. What's tripping me up is the maker's mark. It's like an L, but with a corresponding, opposite line protruding in the opposite direction at the top of the vertical line. I just can't find anything about a maker's mark with that symbol. Someone suggested that may denote size, however, I don't believe it to be the number 1.

It does still have the pea inside and rings quite well. Definitely hit the jackpot on it being intact with the pea still in and a ringer at that.
 
I just found one today that looks remarkably like yours except yours is in way better condition and the makers mark looks a little different though. A crescent moon or possibly an O. Cool find for sure! Maybe I should post a thread.
 
Thanks for the link deeper, excellent information. Any idea on an approximate age? Looks like much of the extended family was in the bell making business throughout the 19th century.
 
Back
Top Bottom