Old steel balcony

I was invited to a friends property up in the California Mother load, this part of a 100 year old Spanish Land Grand with a small period adobe structure. This is patented land with rich mining history, he’s owned the property for 10 years it a little over 100 acres.

My friend is scraping together money restoring the property and while getting the grand tour he stopped at a steel structure sitting under a tree he inherited with the land. He wasn’t sure what it’d been used for his neighbor wanted it for her yard it has a nice aged look although it would not date earlier than electric arc welding there is evidence of that around the door frame. It’s all steel, including the floor and looks to be some kind of corner balcony. The tubes are hollow and everything is fabricated into one solid structure. I could see this as an industrial decoration in a bar, restaurant or nightclub and told him he should sell it if he can’t use it on the property.


what do you think, scrap metal or hidden gem?

 

Typo above. Think you mean "Mother Lode."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mothe... early 1850s, during the California gold rush.

Debora

 

Ha ha, yep mother lode… spelling was the bane of my 4th grade existence, spell check my savior… most times, lol.

 

Part of an old Spanish Land Grant-you might grab a metal detector and see what you can find.That's a really historic area-have fun,find some 1850's $20 dollar private mint gold pieces.

 

Who cares what it is - It is beautiful and can be used anywhere , I love it it for architectural structure.

 

Enlarged a wee bit...don't know it's use, but someone did some nice work making it! Are those tall posts also metal??

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Likely architectural salvage. In what county of the Mother Lode is your friend's property?

Debora

 

We spent a couple days with metal detectors the property is target rich with multiple signals every square foot our focus this trip just to try and get some sense of the property there is a very good chance to find pocket gold the geology of the district is narrow shallow quartz stringers with gold which at least two areas on the property were mined last in 1930. Another challenge this time the grass was a couple feet tall and hiding any mineral float, breakouts, dykes or any past small disturbances.

there was a stage stop not far away we are hoping to find that location too.

 

I think a decorator could find a home for it alright

 

The whole thing is all steel, solidly built and heavy he says

 

It in the south central Sierra Nevada mountains in Northern California, USA, we thought maybe it was salvage to convert into a lift for the mine and it wasn’t used? Another mystery.

 

Have fun exploring !

 

Looks fairly contemporary. Would cost a lot to have it made but not a lot of value on the secondary market..... but better than scrap. Finding a buyer willing to pay much for it would be hard. Sell it to the neighbor if he has no use for it....... Or maybe better yet, give it to the neighbor as a gesture of goodwill. Never hurts to curry favor with one's neighbors. Was just reading an article where a minor dispute between neighbors became an all out war.

 

Plant flowering vines on it. I did that with a not very old metal headboard from the metal scrap pile at my transfer station