Hobby - Collecting Obscure Memorabilia That Tells a Story - Prisoner's Dice Made of Human Teeth and Civil War Artifacts

I collect dice in general, but one of the prides of my dice collection is a set of four dice made of human teeth and a handmade case to store them in.

I had a dentist confirm that they are in fact teeth. I'd ask more just to double confirm, but you can never get more than 4 out of 5 of them to agree to anything anyway.

They were given to a guard by a prisoner who was being released and didn't need them any more, including the small box he'd hand-carved to keep them in.

It is unclear how the teeth themselves were obtained (though maybe not too hard to fathom a guess in a prison setting), but they were rubbed smooth on the cell walls and marked with pens and other implements they had on hand.

I got them from the guard's son. He's not sure exactly when they were made, but his father had them for decades as a curiosity, so most like it they were from the 60s or early 70s.

I'm also a metal detector and love finding cool old locations. A lot of my finds are typical things from the Civil War era - bullets, screws, coins, buckles, etc. But every now and again, you find a really cool piece that tells something beyond what the thing itself is.
In this case, I thought I'd found a uniform coat button. Only when I pulled it out and cleaned it off a little, it was not a button--at least not originally. It's a coin from the 1850s that someone drilled two holes in to turn it into a button. This was a very common practice, especially as supplies ran low later in the war, when far away from supply lines, or just as a quick field fix.

In that same location was this guy, the remains of a dropped harmonica.

It was found right up against a stone around the fire pit. Both of these were found in a small camp, probably just 3 or 4 tents, overlooking a crossroads. They were probably there, bored out of their minds, watching over supply lines or something. We know where the fire pit was because we found it (you can often find "melt" or small, irregularly shaped drips of lead where they were making bullets in a mold over the fire. We dug up some of that and it was surrounded by charcoal in the soil, so we know that's where the fire was). There was a large stone a few few away and I would guess they used it as a stool. Th harmonica was right up against and behind it, so I assume the guy was sitting there--maybe mending his clothes with homemade coin buttons--when this just slipped out of back pocket. He was probably miles away before he ever realized he'd even lost it.

I found this one at another site. It's a half dime (not a nickel, damn it) from 1853. It's a tiny thing, maybe 2/3 the size and weight of a modern penny. It had a tiny hole in the top where it was more than likely worn as a charm. It was in another Civil War encampment so I like to think that it was given to a soldier as a token for luck. Maybe it was random or maybe the 1853 had meaning--an anniversary or birth of a child the coin would keep them safe enough to come home to...
I don't know if they made it back safe or not, but the coin got separated from them somehow. I actually put it on a string and occasionally wear it for luck myself. I wonder if they ever thought a total stranger 160 years in the future would find, and then wear, their little charm? I'd wager not, but it makes me feel a connection to history when I do.

This is a Minié ball, a common bullet from the Civil War. The cool thing about this one is that it didn't fire properly. The odd hole in the side is from a long, screw-tipped boring tool. After they loaded up the bullet and tried to fire, if it didn't fire, they'd have to snake this long screw down the barrel and into the bullet (lead can be relatively soft) to pull it back out.
This one was on a location where a skirmish is known to have taken place. The bullet most likely had to be yanked out of the gun under fire, where, now useless, it was dropped and forgotten (had it been pulled out during target practice or something there is a good chance it would have been pocketed to be remelted and reformed into another bullet later, not just dropped, especially later in the war).
I have another bullet I can't find at the moment with teeth marks in it. There is evidence that bored soldiers would actually gnaw on bullets almost like gum, or put them in their teeth to bite on to steel their nerves in a battle, but the most likely explanation was that it was given to a wounded man to bite on for pain. Soldiers would often bite bullets (or leather straps) for pain when shot or even during amputations. It's where the phrase "bite the bullet" meaning to just bear down and bear a great hardship comes from. Sometimes you just have to bite the bullet and have your leg cut off...

And a couple more random things before getting back to work...an original IBM Think notebook, used by engineers and others in the company all through the 1950s and 60s. This one is from a relative and it still has one page left in case I ever get an idea strong enough to use it up...

And finally, an original 1936 Berlin Olympics pin that was handed down to me, though it was a friend of my great-grandparents who went and brought it back to them as a gift, not my actual family members. Still, I like to believe that this pin was in the stadium and witnessed Jesse Owens standing tall atop the podium with the laurels of victory on his head. Must have been a hell of a sight.

So those are just some of my random memorabilia and things that come alive with the stories of their creation and lifetime when I look at them.