A few relics from todays..... 1850's site

Got out with the Equinox again to do a little Civil War era hunting. I hunted a fort that was occupied from 1851 thru 1862. I dug a lot of trash but I managed to rescue a few keepers. I'm not sure what the US oval thing is. It measures 2 1/2" across and 1 1/2" tall and is very thin. I found the small piece first and rechecked the hole and dug the rest from the side of the hole.]]url=http://i64.tinypic.com/311x2mh.jpg[/IMG]][/url]]]

Way to go Dan!---You're killin it with that E800!

Face of a lead filled cartridge box plate?

Wow what a great hunt, the buttons don't dissapoint

Cal_cobra Wrote:
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> Face of a lead filled cartridge box plate?
>
> Wow what a great hunt, the buttons don't dissapoin
> t


Thank you Cal, that was my buddy's first guess, I'm a newbie to this kind of hunting

WOW, Dan!!! WHAT FINDS!!!

That button you are holding -- not the Dragoon button, but the one-piece... That's an EARLY one, that pre-dates the age of your fort site by a couple of decades, if I am not mistaken.

Have any period coins come from this site?

CONGRATS!!!

Steve

steveg Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> WOW, Dan!!! WHAT FINDS!!!
>
> That button you are holding -- not the Dragoon but
> ton, but the one-piece... That's an EARLY one, th
> at pre-dates the age of your fort site by a couple
> of decades, if I am not mistaken.
>
> Have any period coins come from this site?
>
> CONGRATS!!!
>
> Steve


Steve,

Yes, for some reason or another we have been digging buttons from the 1820's and 1830's, we're not sure what's was going on here before it was a fort. There have been a couple of gold coins come out back in the day. The guys that used to hunt it, gave up due to the lack of finds My buddy and I have found Mexican copper 1/4 reales this year, both were dated 1846. I know there has to be some old silver lurking somewhere

Dan,

I think I told you before, but I have hunted a very similar fort site here in Oklahoma, where we make very similar finds. I even found a button similar to that "early" one that you dug; my guess was that sometimes these buttons were just "repurposed" from older clothing onto new, and thus the "mixed" ages of the buttons at these sites.

I had wondered if any gold coins had come from the site; we have dug a decent amount of silver from ours, but the gold has eluded us (though there are rumors of a gold piece or two coming from there years back).

Great digs, my friend!!

Steve

steveg Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Dan,
>
> I think I told you before, but I have hunted a ver
> y similar fort site here in Oklahoma, where we mak
> e very similar finds. I even found a button simil
> ar to that "early" one that you dug; my guess was
> that sometimes these buttons were just "repurposed
> " from older clothing onto new, and thus the "mixe
> d" ages of the buttons at these sites.
>
> I had wondered if any gold coins had come from the
> site; we have dug a decent amount of silver from o
> urs, but the gold has eluded us (though there are
> rumors of a gold piece or two coming from there ye
> ars back).
>
> Great digs, my friend!!
>
> Steve


Thank you. I believe your right concerning the buttons being recycled, that would make sense as to why we're both digging early date buttons. All I want is an old seated coin from this place, just one

Shoot, I'd take the US buckle over a seated coin any day!! Congrats on the awesome digs.

WoW! . Pieces of life's past or past lives, however you want to say it. Good stuff, Dan

Dragoon button.
and
Kepi button

Excellent digs there Dan

Wish we could find Dragoon buttons around here!

Love the 1820s/30s button too.

Looks like a broken heart shaped Martingale in the mix too?

very nice!

Very nice finds! We have a few 1850's Military sites here that we find older buttons and Spanish silver in. That older stuff is really nice when it turns up. Thanks for sharing.

Nice Haul!!

What's the back of the U.S. plate look like??Any lead left?Its either a Buckle or a Cartridge box plate!!If theres no lead and the back has a strip of rust across it its a cartridge box plate they used iron wire hooks.If its clean looking non rusty with solder marks or a galvanized looking stain usually its a Buckle and from that site it may well be a Dragoon sabre belt plate(Buckle)

Man I love to dig those pewter 4 Hole buttons always a good sign there's some goodies in there.Lots of them come off the shelter tents!

You HAVE to dig some of that big iron in there when you get to it!!Your going to be blown away with some carbine and musket parts and horse tack etc.Put the EQ in Gold field and accept all iron dig those big fatter hits reading as iron on ID or bouncing alot up and down the scale.If you dig a a big Bowie knife you have to send it to me!!Ive always wanted to dig a Bowie. Close as I've ever came was once I Dug a smaller style/type side knife one once but always wanted a big one.It was in a Outpost over looking a Confederate cavalry camp.Little fox hole on a ridge above the camp.there was dozens of Spencer Hulls split open and the lead removed for making ammo.He must of left in a hurry cause he left his side knife lying in the pile of split hulls!


Have you got any spurs yet???There there almost certainly! But a spur will sound like a piece of junk usually if its in iron or at times even out.the shape of them really makes for a sound that is not so diggable .the shape is not kind to eddy currents.

Great digs thank's for showing!!

Keith

“I don't care that they stole my idea . . I care that they don't have any of their own”
-Nikola Tesla

Thank you guys for the comments!!! Hey Keith, I do everything I can NOT to dig iron lol If time permits and I'm still in the area when the non ferrous targets peter out, I'll go for the iron targets. Here's a pic of the back of the plate. I think I see the strip of iron on the back, right behind the U. I did dig an eagle breast-plate a couple of months ago from here, that was an unreal experience, my first

This place is different from most, it's on private land and in the middle of a pecan orchard. There's only a very small area that's original, maybe an 80x80 spot, that's where the breast plate came from. The rest they dug the dirt and terraced the landscape to water the trees. No dirt was removed according to the owner, just moved around to form berms and low spots for the trees. It seem like all the aluminum somehow ended up 12-18" deep lol, most of the items are 4-6" deep, sometime more shallow. The dirt is desert sand, but, for some reason contaminated with iron, of course!!

The trees are providing a nice shady spot to hunt for the most part, yesterday, almost everything I dug came from the low spots where the trees are planted, but, quite a few items have been found on the mounds. My plan is to go back and open my 800 up from -9 to +5, run my recovery speed at 4-5, park 2 and sens at 24, there doesn't seem to be much mineralization or EMI interference. ]

Nice digs.