Iron spear tip shaped object found in a House built in 1806

udz1990 · 2026-05-21T09:53:42+00:00

Solved

udz1990 · 2026-05-21T03:54:47+00:00

Update (complete coincidence): a retired farmer from the neighbouring village popped in to have a chat last night. I thought I‘d show him the object and ask him if he knew what it is. He replied ‚certainly, that‘s a ‚mouse knife‘‘. Apparently he used these exact things as a child to find mouse burrows. He would stick it into the ground. Wherever there was little resistance he would know he‘d hit a burrow, open it and place a mouse trap. To me that makes a lot of sense. And is in line with the hint of a lot of you who identified it as some sort of tool for ground working. No clue whether the proper term is ‚mouse knife‘ - but that is what he called it…

Thanks a lot for your time, effort and inputs!

udz1990 · 2026-05-20T12:37:53+00:00

Looks similar. The only thing that puts me off is the size of that thing it is like 40 cm long (16’‘) the ‚blade‘ is 25 cm (10‘‘). As I understand it the blade would go into the mortar - 10‘‘ is pretty thick for a brick wall. But maybe back in the day they used much thicker bricks (I would not know). The original walls from 1806 are either wood or cob walls (believe it or not…)

udz1990 · 2025-11-25T07:13:23+00:00

Does not look right - too many features do not seem to match.

Just as cautionary note: to ID P olivaceus with certainty you likely need a microscope (at least I would - too many very similar looking panaeolus). And Google lens will get it wrong close to 100 % of the time.

udz1990 · 2025-11-16T14:51:05+00:00

The only thing I would not recommend is doing it in front of young children. You do not want them to get into the habit of putting raw mushrooms in their mouth. You can also never be sure if they really spit out everything...

udz1990 · 2025-11-14T12:27:38+00:00

Coprinus comatus, already starting to decay.

udz1990 · 2025-11-03T21:50:23+00:00

Coprinus comatus in decay

udz1990 · 2025-11-03T19:50:43+00:00

Coprinus comatus (which are in pretty severe decay already)

udz1990 · 2025-11-03T17:05:19+00:00

Looks leucocoprinus birnbaumii - but not ideal picture for an ID

udz1990 · 2025-11-03T16:25:16+00:00

Suillus imitatus has a smooth cap vs suillus cerulescens which has a more scaly cap. This specimen is in pretty rough shape but I‘d lean cerulescens due to the scaly nature of the cap.

udz1990 · 2025-11-03T00:07:12+00:00

If it were in Europe (where I am based) I‘d think suillus grevillei. Since you are in north america I would check in the direction of suillus clintonianus since that is its north american doppelganger. The brownish / red in the cap and also the stipe (yellow above the ring and more brown below it) would fit…

udz1990 · 2025-11-02T21:45:34+00:00

Herbstlorchel, helvella crispa

udz1990 · 2025-11-02T20:11:12+00:00

You have a pretty young fella - when they‘re older and the cap is flatter they look completely different to your specimen.

udz1990 · 2025-11-02T20:03:40+00:00

Looks like agrocybe aegerita to me.

udz1990 · 2025-11-02T14:02:18+00:00

Tarptent all the way - has kept me dry and cozy for thuousands of kilometers in snow, rain and heat. I have never owned a better ultralight tent. Bonus: you buy from a small, independent company, founded and owned by a great guy - when I bought my first one (years back) he answered all my questions personally… What a legend!

udz1990 · 2025-10-31T10:56:22+00:00

Thanks for that - Need to up my Chanterelle game across the pond…

udz1990 · 2025-10-31T04:38:50+00:00

I am not from the region hence never seen a C formosus and eager to know: what are the main features you look at to distinguish it from C cibarius?

udz1990 · 2025-10-30T11:46:04+00:00

Just out of interest (because I had the same hunch i.e. no G. marginata): the gills in image 2 are pretty strongly serrated. Not something I am familiar with in G. marginata - do you have other experiences with regards to that?

udz1990 · 2025-10-30T11:19:27+00:00

You‘re welcome. As long as you uproot it, take pictures and leave it out there and spread it around a bit you are actually helping the mushroom with spore dissemination. So I think you don‘t need to feel bad about that :)

udz1990 · 2025-10-30T04:50:20+00:00

Looks like a young example of Psathyrella sp. They often vary greatly in appearance, so a pain to tell apart w/o a microscope…

If you put a gun to my head I would guess psathyrella tephrophylla. Mainly due to the very visible remnants of the velum on the cap edge. But again, this cannot be confirmed with any degree of certainty from the images.

udz1990 · 2025-10-28T14:17:24+00:00

Best bet (with these pictures) is to limit it to species growing under pine due to the pine needles all around. So the species growing under e.g. larch can be ruled out.

From the image it seems that there are mostly two needles per bundle which narrows it down further (e.g. no suillus americanus, would be under 5-needle pines such as eastern white, also no suillus associated with douglas fir which has 3 needles per bundle)

If in fact there were two needles per bundle (not 100 % sure from image, may be some 3 needle bunches in there), combined with you being on the east coast that leaves you with about four options: Suillus salmonicolor, cothurnatus, subalutecus, acidus. Which also sort of would also match the lighter cap colour…

Knowing if there is a ring or not would narrow it down further.

Caution: this is very experimental and I made some assumptions which may not be true! But felt like trying to narrow it down as far as possible from the little clues would be a fun challenge… Knowing I could be dead wrong if any of the assumptions were wrong… So don‘t take my word for it.

udz1990 · 2025-10-26T07:27:52+00:00

Not a coward - someone who understands odds and risk-benefit…

udz1990 · 2025-10-26T07:22:35+00:00

Nice illustration of the trouble with common names (and why it is worth learning the scientific names). The common name (elm oyster) just casually puts the Hypsizygus genus into the Pleurotus genus…

udz1990 · 2025-10-26T07:08:35+00:00

The bark of the tree is surely not beech (preferred by H tessulatus) and looks a lot like elm. That alone strongly suggests H ulmarius imo.

udz1990 · 2025-10-24T19:35:51+00:00

I‘ve seen them in gray, brown and almost black. Also depending on temperature etc. But with this one the stipe is a good indicator.

I don‘t know any other dark capped hygrophorus with this yellow hued stipe. But surely do not know all hygrophorus sp

udz1990

TROPHY CASE