This bucket was found in our small museum’s artifact collection in California, and we don’t know what it might’ve been used for. It is quite heavy and made of metal with visible welding marks. There was apparently a paper or perhaps a label of some sort affixed to the side. The handle is also metal, and looks like it secured the lid with a lock when fully upright. The metal lid has a heavy, stiff hinge on one side. There is nothing inside the bucket except for a sizeable cobweb, and there was no residue that I could see.
One of our volunteers thinks it’s an artillery bucket from the Civil War, but I think the welds look too modern.
Our area is known for gold rush era mining and agriculture, and we have lots of artifacts relating to blacksmithing.
submitted by /u/0wl-Cat
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