Age of "Bell"?

[Pete E]

Another of this afternoon's finds...I am not sure what the metal is, but it does not feel hard like bronze, but it is harder than lead..I was initially a bit stumped as to what it was, but when I clean out the mud from inside, a small copper alloy clapper came out and you can just about see inside where it would have been attached.

I there fore presume it's a bell of some sort, possibly more decorative than functional? If anybody can put a date on it, I would be very grateful..

[Pete E]

Looking at it further, I now suspect this was an end cap, almost a finial, that went on the end of a wooden pole/handle. The corroded copper item I retrieved from inside could be the remains of a pin or screw that went into the wood to secure this end cap in place???

[figgis]

Its general shape does suggest it went onto the end of a pole

[Pete E]

Looking at the shape of the "eye" I am guessing it has no great age? One for the scrap bin me thinks!

[Oxgirl]

Looking at the shape of the "eye" I am guessing it has no great age? One for the scrap bin me thinks!

Don’t you dare! Put that in a ‘mystery items’ box. One day one of us will get a Eureka moment on it and you’ll then know what it is

[Easylife]

One day one of us will get a Eureka moment on it and you’ll then know what it is

Only too right, I once scrapped something that I thought looked quite modern only to later deffo ID it being from a horse carriage.