Beautiful Heart Heel Plate NH

[Ed-NH]

My friend and I hit a 1700's cellar hole on a friends property in town. This is the second time we have been there. The first time was a bust. Last week I scouted around a bit and found where they did their gardens and farming across the path from the house. We went back yesterday for a few hours. I hunted what appeared to be a trail where they accessed the field (now all woods). There were the remains of wagon ruts but you really had to look to see them. Anyway I got a fantastic 12gauge shot shell signal and was less than excited to dig it. About 6 inches down came a lovely heart heel plate. I have never found one and only dreamed of beautiful ones they find in Virginia and South. I should have put a quarter next to the photo for size. This one is exactly the diameter of a Morgan silver dollar and only the tips extend beyond it by 1/8". This is a very small one. I wonder if this one was on it's way to the Civil War on the bottom of someone's shoe. Anyways I thought that I would share it with you. I'm a quite pleased with this find 8)

Ed-

 

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[incajoe]

That's new one on me. Haven't seen one with a heart before. Nice find!

 

[comfyinvermont]

Nice find Ed. They are pretty much all that size. The heels on the boots were pretty small back then. Congrats...Lance

 

[ModernMiner]

Nice find Ed.
I found one of those too about a year ago. I thought the small size was a bit odd too.
Congrats,
MM

 

[texan connection]

I have been told (only seen one dug) they were common during the civil war era (dont know if there issue or not) and have been found at CW battle sights.
A very cool find.

 

[Colonial Zoyboy]

Ed, that is an interesting heel plate. For some reason, we don't find artifacts similar to that in our area.

Kyle

 

[Evolution]

Great find Ed. I found one like it earlier this year too. I didn't know what it was until I posted it and someone helped with the ID. Is yours silver colored on the other side? Mine has alot of the silver color left on it. I assume that was the side that didn't come in contact with the ground.

 

[Merf]

A great find ED
The first I have seen.

 

[Green1]

very cool !! i have 3 1/2 of these... no civil war action here in mass....

 

[civilman1]

As well you should be Ed.....I would love to put one in the collection.Great Find

 

[Green1]

these were found within 100 miles from boston, at different sites..
my wife got one of them....

 

[BuckleBoy]

Cool find! Here's one I found back in March:



I've seen the heart shape before--as well as the clover cut-out...but the star was a new one to me...

Since these have been found in CW camps before, some folks associate them a little too strongly with the CW. They were not issued to troops, but rather were a civilian item--even though some obviously went into battle on soldiers' boots.

I love seeing these posted--thank you for putting this one on the forum.


Regards,



Buckleboy

 

[texan connection]

Wow BB Ive never seen the Star one B-4

 

[Mental Granny]

Very cool I have never seen heel plates like these before!

 

[BuckleBoy]

Wow BB Ive never seen the Star one B-4

Yeah, I'm gonna nickname that one the "Texas Heel Plate," buddy.

 

[Dan32981]

Great find, I found and identical heel plate as well. They also had them in the "Ask Mark Parker" Section of last month's W&ET Magazine. Said it could possible be civil war, but there were civilian versions of them as well. Either way they date back to 1800's and it is still a great find.

-Dan

 

[Evolution]

Great find Ed. I found one like it earlier this year too. I didn't know what it was until I posted it and someone helped with the ID. Is yours silver colored on the other side? Mine has alot of the silver color left on it. I assume that was the side that didn't come in contact with the ground.

Here's what I was talking about when I described the silver color on the back. This one held up pretty well underground.

 

[Evolution]

Great find, I found and identical heel plate as well. They also had them in the "Ask Mark Parker" Section of last month's W&ET Magazine. Said it could possible be civil war, but there were civilian versions of them as well. Either way they date back to 1800's and it is still a great find.

-Dan

Mark Parker also said they list for about $35 a piece in that same article.

 

[MonkeyBoy]

I have been told (only seen one dug) they were common during the civil war era (dont know if there issue or not) and have been found at CW battle sights.
A very cool find.

I found one in a Union Camp here in Virginia, the exact same one with the heart... it could have been lost by a farmer before or after the war but it was right in the middle of the camp??


MonkeyBoy

 

[Ed-NH]

Great find Ed. I found one like it earlier this year too. I didn't know what it was until I posted it and someone helped with the ID. Is yours silver colored on the other side? Mine has alot of the silver color left on it. I assume that was the side that didn't come in contact with the ground.

Here's what I was talking about when I described the silver color on the back. This one held up pretty well underground.

Hmm, I guess they may have been silver plated at one time. Mine has no indication of silver on it. I believe mine is of a brass-like material based on the signal I got. Also, I know that some of them were made of brass. I guess they are a bit more popular in the northern states than we think. I'm guessing mine was civilian. Your's is a nice find congrats.