Vintage 1880 Old Antique Brick Human Hand Print Architectural Primitive Salvage

Description

Most Unique and Unusual Architectural Find
1880 Building Brick with Fingerprints
During our demolition of this 1880 brick building located in the small farming village of Bloomville, Ohio, we often come across unusual brick with prints cast in them. These prints are usually animal footprints, but this brick in particular had a print of human fingertips cast into the piece! Better yet, with a closer look, you can actally view part of this person’s fingerprints from over 140 years ago!
During the 1880’s brick were handmade locally. A pit was dug to unearth the clay. The clay was generally allowed to soften in the pit filled with water. Often times a team of horses would be walked over the clay to soften and break down even further.
The clay would then be placed into wooden molds and eventually arranged into the open fields for the sun to dry. During this time that the bricks were laying in the fields, animals of all varieties and curiosities would amble over the still-soft clay and cast their footprints into eternity! This brick is one of only two or three of 30,000 brick that we pulled that contained this unique print of a humans fingers.
We surmise that someone picked this brick up before it was fully cured leaving their imprint in the still soft clay.
These brick prints have not seen the light of day for over 140 years until now!
Perfect gift for someone wanting a unique historical piece of Americana!
Brick measure 2-1/2” thick x 4” wide x 8” length and weigh around 4 lbs.