CW Housewife Lost, Found, Lost, and Found Again Today
Happy Day for me today. I wanted to share one of my most unusual eyeball finds. Most of you know me from the What Is It Forum. I dont post here much but I was a coinshooter in the 70's and a trash picker way before it became fashionable. I dont know if this is the correct forum; I found this pouch back in the late 70's-early 80's but lost it for what I thought was forever. Heres the 2006 story:
http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,39502.0.html
Good news my sister found it and returned it to me this week.
I found it in my mailbox.
I guess I should tell the story here from the beginning. I eyeballed this old pouch in a Lemon City trash pile after several shacks were bulldozed. Lemon City being an old rundown section of Miami now called Little Haiti. It was Miami's first settlement. Some dope head found it before I did and tossed it back on the ground. I noticed a few brass buttons inside that were made in London, a lock of hair and a small paper clipping that blew away in the breeze. I have found some good trash items but I didnt think this was one of them and I tossed it back on the ground.
A day or so later I was reading an article about the Civil War. It said how soldiers would carry a sewing pouch called a "housewife." It also mentioned carrying a lock of hair from a loved one or leaving a lock of hair behind.
The next page showed a Confederate Navy button made in London. Thats when it sunk in.
Those brass buttons I tossed away were Civil War!
I rushed back to the Lemon City bulldozed trash pile. The old ratty looking pouch was right there on the ground were I tossed it with several buttons still inside. I frantically searched the trash pile looking for buttons. I lifted 2x4's and rusted tin roof sheets. I found about a dozen buttons in all, I cant recall. The lock of hair was still tucked inside the secret center compartment of the pouch. Unfortunately I could not find the tiny paper clipping and I searched for hours. The wind just blew it away.
Note that a tiny piece remains. I wish I knew what it said. It appears to list a few states on one side and a foreign language on the other.
The CSN button is almost mint. They are all in undug condition. The
A Confederate Artillery button is cool. Its a southern made tin back.
Besides the lock of hair, the CSN Navy and Confederate Artillery, the pouch contained 2 nice Virginia buttons and about 6 Union Navy buttons which I gave most of them away in the 80's. I am wondering if this was someones collection that passed away.
Could the pouch be a soldiers housewife thats as old as the buttons? Maybe it was hidden inside the wall of the old Lemon City house that was demolished? Nothing else but wood and rubble could be found. Anybody know the value?
If I find them, I will post. So far no luck. They may be again lost...4 days to find. 
![:-\](https://www.treasurenet.com/smilies/undecided.gif "Undecided :-\")
I hope. This isn't the first time I hid something so good that I cannot find it. 
