1818 brass bell

Actually, yes, Have seen it. It's called a Mexican Mission Bell.

Ideally, the date is a commemorative date of a major event. It is carved into the mold for the bell, which can be produced for many years there after. So it will not likely be the date of manufacture of the bell.

Do you have any provenance on it? Unless you do, and it's iron clad, you basically have a very pretty tourist bell.

They come in many sizes, with a number of different dates but most commonly 1815 and 1818. The 'hanger' can be a number of styles, usually a double loop arraignment though. There are single loops (of what almost looks like heavy wire, and the rather crude Tab as in your case. The last two are usually associated with modern ones (they were easier/cheaper to make than the correct clover leaf form.

They are made in Mexico (still made today), and usually weathered by burying them in the sand near water or chemically. They are then sold, unfortunately usually to deceive as to age, representing themselves as recovered Mission Bells.

Mission bell aside:
The churches sent monks and ministers to form ministries in Mexico in the 1800's, these were 'missions they were sent on', so the church building they setup to worship in were called missions. The idea was to help the poor both physically and spiritually. The Bells were used as any other church bell - a way to call people to worship, or communicate important events (ie fire bell, weddings).

While undoubtedly there were/are real mission bells out there, there were no where near the numbers of these bells that are turning up. You will normally see them in online auctions at least once a month (usually more), as people think they have a real treasure. Most of the few real ones ended up in museums though.

Without a rock solid documentation trail, you may be able to prove age through metallurgy - if you can match the metal content up with a known bell from the time. Unlikely though not many will subject their antiques to having chunks taken off them for testing.

So enjoy the bell as a decorative piece - it is pretty. Put some write up with it as to what it is representing, and what the missions were about, but don't market it as authentic unless you can prove it.

Hope this helps!
Garry

PS.
I should also mention that a good number of bells were also lost in wars. They were a favorite target for the metal was easy to melt down in the field to make replacement bullets etc.

Garry