Tuesday Tombstones

This tombstone was new to me when I first saw it in 2013. I had no idea what it was made out of except that it was definitely not made of stone. 
What it was made out of was White Bronze Metal. 

There are groups on Facebook for the spotting and sharing of these markers because they are just so rare and interesting to find.  

These White Bronze markers were sold by a companies between 1870s and 1914. They were advertised as a sort of cheaper and standard way of ordering a monument while having the flexibility to order different parts when needed. In the example to the left, the metal plate that has words on it was replaceable. There are four sides and each one was able to be changed (such as when a second child died in this case). 
The monuments are extremely durable. As you can see there is very little rust. One other one in this cemetery even had a gun shot through it and was still fine. As you can see in this photo, the dates are clearly pre-monument making time periods. This is likely placed after the fact by family who now could suddenly afford placing a marker for their children.  The end of the White Bronze marker making came because of WWI where many of the factories were taking over for the War Efforts to make critical equipment and supplies. 

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