Lathe-turned wooden tar bucket with fitted lid and remnants of leather straps. Cylindrical vessel has slight taper inward toward middle. Decorated with two double score marks below center. Above center are shoulders jutting outward with vertical holes through which straps of leather handle pass. Handle also passes through lid of conforming shape, although one strap broken off at shoulder while the other is broken off 3 inches above shoulder.Center hole in lid apparently accepted a now-missing stick used to apply tar to wheels. Broken-off 5-inch length of leather strap rests inside. Tar residue in bucket.
Lancaster County or region.
Provenance
Donor believes bucket descended from family members to his parents who displayed it on their mantle. Donor inherited it from parents.
Cracked. Reads: "I H 1774" Marked three times: "MZ"
Front and back hounds are heavy wooden members of the running gear. Each is configured into a "wishbone" shape whose "prongs" are attached to front or rear axle. Thus, this iron is likely a hound band that encircles and secures the hounds where they are joined to the coupling pole that runs front to back. (These wooden members are part of what we now call the chassis.)
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Credit
Courtesy of LancasterHistory and the Lancaster County Archives, Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
