Why So Many of Them?
The quantity is actually one of the strongest indicators that these weren’t decorative or valuable items. Instead, they were likely stock—raw material waiting to be used.
During the early industrial era, people rarely threw anything away. Metal was valuable, reusable, and hard to come by. If someone worked in a foundry, machine shop, railroad, or mint-adjacent industry, they may have brought home surplus blanks or rejects to repurpose later.
Some possible reasons for storing so many include:
Plans for a future project that never happened
Scrap saved for melting down later
Supplies for a small home-based workshop
Emergency material during wartime rationing
During both World Wars, metal shortages were common, and many people hoarded scrap or usable pieces “just in case.”
Why the Basement?
Basements were the original storage units of their time. Heavy items like metal were kept low to avoid stressing floorboards, and cool temperatures slowed corrosion. In many older homes, basements doubled as workshops where tools, molds, and raw materials were kept close at hand.
