What is this? ‘Mystery artifact’ found at African-American historic site in Boston

A heavily corroded artifact linked to one of the nation’s most important African-American historic sites has stumped experts, prompting them to ask the public for guesses.

The vase-like bulb was found at the two-century-old African Meeting House at Boston’s African American National Historic Site, which is part of the National Park Service.

“We need your help identifying this small, cast, copper alloy object from the archaeology collection at the African Meeting House,” the Northeast Museum Services Center posted Wednesday on Facebook.

“It’s hard to tell from the photos, but it has an embossed ‘XO’ pattern circling both the spherical and tubular portions. Our guesses so far include part of a curtain rod and part of a gas lighting fixture or fitting, although it seems a bit delicate for either of those.”

Among the guesses: It’s part of a “Magic Lantern,” a type of slide projector used to entertain and educate crowds in the 18th and 19th centuries. “The earliest known ‘lanthorn show’ in the U.S. was in Salem, Massachusetts, on December 3, 1743,” according to the Magic Lantern Society.

Archaeologists say the “mystery artifact” was discovered “in a pre-1855 context” at a complex dedicated to one of the nation’s oldest African-American neighborhoods.

The meeting house was built in 1806 and “is considered the oldest extant Black church building in America,” according to the National Park Service. It’s many roles over two centuries included hosting speeches by “giants of the Abolitionist Movement” such as Frederick Douglass, the NPS says.

The Northeast Museum Services Center included a graphic with its Facebook post, showing how the artifact might have fit into a Victorian light fixture.

“Gas lighting was common in urban American interiors by the 1820s-30s, and components included all sort of interconnected brass parts, which were often elaborately ornamented,” the center said. “What do you think it is? What do you make of the ‘XO’ pattern?

Another possibility: It could be a furniture finial, according to Charles Ewen, director of Phelps Archaeology Laboratory at East Carolina University in North Carolina. “It is hard to tell,” he told McClatchy News. “X’s are often inscribed on African American made pottery.”