Meet my neighbour (by the way she is over 250 years old)! (1 Viewer)

[Cornwallis]

Aside to collecting toysoldiers, I have been known to dabble with a metaldetector on the odd occasion and awhile back found this small object.

It was absolutely filthy when I found it but following professional conservation from a local museum they managed to restore it to this revealing the face of a lady in period dress. This has been dated to the 18th century and identified as a childs toy watch (as the reverse you can just make out roman numerals on a clock face). This I found in a field very close to my house and not far from a manor house that dated back to medieval times so I think this could be the face of my neighbour from a few centuries back! ^&cool

 

[Louis Badolato]

Wow! That is an amazing find!^&cool^&cool Is there any way of doing some research to try to find out information about your neighbors from that period? If I were you, I would be very interested in putting a name and a story to the face on that old watch. Imagine that, painting a portraint (probably of the child's mother, I would assume) on the back of a child's watch 250 years ago - the family would have had to be important (or at very least wealthy).

 

[thebritfarmer]

Very cool and as Louis said wouldn't be neat to find out more history on the piece, owner etc.....

 

[Larry Allen]

That is something to see. I am amazed that you can just walk out into a field and find that type of object.{eek3}
Wow! Now that is History!!!

Years ago, I spent 2 months in Cambridge as a guest lecturer at a few of the high tech companies in the area and a few times at the University. One day my guide took me to a wonderful town called (Lavenham) I think.

It was a very old town with “crooked” buildings, as I remember.
I wandered around for hours looking into antique shops and such.

One I walked into and the sales lady comes up and asks if “she can help me.”
I told her I was from the US and I love to go antiquing at home. She starts to laugh and says … “Oh my dear man, you have no antiques in “the colonies”! Why, my casual dinner plates are older than anything that you might have there.”

She pointed to a large wooden chair and said, “That chair is over 800 years old and I am just now considering it worthy or the title .. ANTIQUE!”
Gotta’ love you British!!!!!!
{sm4}{sm4}
Larry

 

[Cornwallis]

I have tried very hard to try and put a name to this lady and although there is the possibility she could have been a visitor from out of town and therefore anyone, if she was actually someone who did live in the manor she is likely to have been one of three possibilities who are Barbara Nedeham, Martha Nedeham or Anna Joddrell).

The meadow I found this in use to be an orchard back in the 18th century, so can imagine a bunch of kids playing hide and seek or something and the toy watch fell out of a pocket into the ground for me to come along 250+ years later to discover it!

 

[Njja]

Very cool, it's always fun to find a piece that begins us thinking about who might have enjoyed it in the past!