Mallet

Date1750-1800

MediumOak and iron

DimensionsOverall length:10 3/4" Head: 7 1/4" x 3 3/8"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1933-105

DescriptionMallet with slightly curved rectangular head with heavily chamfered bottom edges (made from a used wagon wheel felly), and a roughly hewn cylindrial handle wedged and doweled into its center. The shanks of four strake nails remain in the top of the head, flanking the eye.
Label TextMade from a worn out wagon or cannon carriage wheel felly, this stout mallet would have been perfect for driving architectural pegs into the joints of a building frame or powering a large chisel. It was found under the eaves of an 18th c. Berwick, Maine house during its demolition in 1924.
MarkingsNone found
ProvenanceFound in late 1924 under the eaves of the Cushing House (then owned by Charles C. Hobbs) in South Berwick, Maine, during its demolition. From there it entered the collection of Mrs. Miles While of Baltimore, Maryland before being sold to Colonial Williamsburg in 1933 as a part of a large grouping from her collection.