DAHLIA: Haha, hi.
What do you got here today?
DAHLIA: Oh, this is cool.
This was a Civil War metacarpal amputation saw.
This would cut off fingers during the Civil War.
[record scratch]
CHUMLEE: I thought you said it was cool.
It sounds a little creepy to me.
It is creepy.
But for us doctors, we love this stuff.
I come to the pawn shop because I think
these give get great deals.
I got it from a collector whose great-grandfather
was a physician during the Civil War.
It's very small.
I've been studying these things for years,
and this is something that stumped
me when I came across it.
That's not a piece of bone, is it?
DAHLIA: What I did is I brought one
of the bullets used in the Civil War,
and it has a hollow bottom.
And it's pretty heavy, if you feel it.
And when this would strike one of our unfortunate soldiers,
bone would shatter.
And you couldn't set a comminuted fracture.
And unfortunately, the doctor on the field
would have to amputate.
OK, so this must have strictly been for fingers, then,
because I can't imagine sawing someone's wrist off,
or someone's leg off.
DAHLIA: Yeah, looking at something like this,
it just kind of reminds you how archaic medicine was
and why we are so grateful for the advances that we have now.
Yeah, it doesn't sound very fun.
No, no.
I think if you were on the Civil War battlefield,
and you got shot in the hand, and a doctor
came up to you with this nasty saw,
it was going to be a real bad day.
And how much are you looking to get out of it?
Something like this, if this was used in the Civil War,
I would probably want to sell it for somewhere around $400.
OK, well, here's my problem with it.
I don't know if it's Civil War or not.
And Rick's not here right now or I'd go get him.
DAHLIA: I'd hate for you to pass on this.
Do you have anybody that you think we could call
to help to take a look at this?
I could call in Mark if he's available--
runs the Clark County Museum.
I mean, I'm sure--
Oh, that would be excellent.
DAHLIA: Yeah, I'm sure he would know.
Yes. Yes.
Thank you. That'd be great.
All right, give me a second.
The fact was we used a lot of medical saws in the Civil War.
The problem that I see you-- have a Mini ball here,
which of course is not a ball, but was
developed by a Captain Mini .
That's where the name comes from,
because it was very accurate.
The problem also was that it was soft lead.
If this hit you and it took out a chunk of your bone,
you had to lose that limb.
That was how you survived.
Because amputation surgery was such a noted part of Civil War
medicine, a Civil War amputation saw
is a real collectible piece.
So you think that this saw could have saved
some lives in the field, huh?
DAHLIA: It's missing the grip handle,
and it's also so highly serrated it kind of almost
looks like a makeshift type of tool.
This stumped me.
So what do you think, Mark?
To tell you the truth, I do not think this
is a Civil War surgeon's saw.
The saws always had handles that were easily gripped.
Now, you would often have a finger hole on it
so that when you would hold on to the saw
it would not slip in your hand, because you were moving fast.
It would be very hard to hang on to that.
Yeah, I agree.
You know, so-- and one of the things they also did is you
wanted a saw that had very sharp but small teeth,
because what you didn't want to do is shatter the bone anymore.
You wanted to cut that bone off evenly.
You can imagine how long that would
take to get through a bone--
Oh yeah.
MARK --even a finger bone.
Mhm.
To tell you the truth, I think what you have here is a child's
saw from a child's tool set.
[gasp] No!
I thought I knew a lot about Civil War bone saws.
But knowing that it wasn't, I'd have to do a lot more research.
You can imagine a little boy getting his first tool
set, the little miniature hammer,
a little miniature screwdriver, a little miniature saw.
But it was a wood saw, probably turn of the century.
At that point in time, even play tools
were just like adult tools.
And you know, it'd be a wonderful piece
for a little kid.
Today, we would never give a kid a saw
that had a real blade on it.
But even when I was a kid, I knew better
than to cut off my finger.
I think most kids do.
Parents today are a bunch of pansies.
Well, I'll let you give me $10,
and I'll take it off your hands.
I pay you $10--
CHUMLEE: I mean, I got to dispose of that.
That is tempting.
You know, it is kind of creepy, but one of my in-law's
birthdays is coming up.
I could just stick a bow on this, wrap it up.
They won't know the difference.
If you want to be a cruel in-law.
A gift certificate would probably be a better gift.
DAHLIA: All right, thanks a lot. - Thanks for coming in.
See you next time.
DAHLIA: Same here.
Sucks that this wasn't from the Civil War,
but at least I wasn't touching a dirty, old, nasty bone saw.