ID of this Lance / Pike head

M ELEY · 12th July 2019, 04:26 AM

Very nice pike head and I do suspect that it is naval, as others have already pointed out. If this British item was indeed 'mustered' out, it could very easily have ended up sold in a private purchase deal, meaning it was used on a merchantman and not a French government/naval ship. If it truly was a part of a grouping of private purchase weapons, the records on such simply weren't kept track of. In other words, it could have gone anywhere, but eventually ended up back in the hands of "the enemy".

Reminds me of the situation with trade axes in N America. During the early/mid-19th century, the government forbid ax manufacturing companies from selling to the Native Americans for obvious reasons. Batches often sold as 'tools' were being used quite effectively as weapons. As this was a large business, some companies began removing their logo from the items and went right on making the sales-

Lack of a maker's mark made them impossible to trace in those days...

12th July 2019, 04:26 AM	#6
M ELEY Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: NC, U.S.A. Posts: 2,184	Very nice pike head and I do suspect that it is naval, as others have already pointed out. If this British item was indeed 'mustered' out, it could very easily have ended up sold in a private purchase deal, meaning it was used on a merchantman and not a French government/naval ship. If it truly was a part of a grouping of private purchase weapons, the records on such simply weren't kept track of. In other words, it could have gone anywhere, but eventually ended up back in the hands of "the enemy". Reminds me of the situation with trade axes in N America. During the early/mid-19th century, the government forbid ax manufacturing companies from selling to the Native Americans for obvious reasons. Batches often sold as 'tools' were being used quite effectively as weapons. As this was a large business, some companies began removing their logo from the items and went right on making the sales- Lack of a maker's mark made them impossible to trace in those days...