About This Tool
Fred Nolan recovered an old branding iron from the swamp and showed it to Crooker in 1992. Crooker describes it as about twelve inches long with an iron handle. The branding face, the raised protrusions that would have formed the mark, was badly worn, making any reading of the brand difficult if not impossible. Branding irons were used on livestock, on barrels and crates to mark ownership or contents, and on timber. The island supported farming under John Smith, Anthony Graves, and the Sellers family through the nineteenth century, and cattle and oxen were kept on it, so an agricultural origin is the simplest explanation. A cargo-marking iron would be of more interest, but the worn face rules out a determination either way. No analysis, dating, or drawing of the mark is recorded, and the object's present location is not known.
Historical Context
William S. Crooker, Oak Island Gold (1993), chapter 23
Where It Was Found
Found at The swamp on Nolan's property. Location: the triangle-shaped swamp on Oak Island's southeastern quadrant.
