A Big First For Me, Confederate Snake Buckle!

Sooper Dave

Sooper Dave

Bronze Member
Jul 20, 2012
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3,582
USA
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Minelab E-Trac
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All Treasure Hunting
I went out looking to get permission on a big yard that is around some Civil War action. The little lady that owns the place was pretty upset that she has caught guys sneaking on and digging and she just wasn't going to allow anyone to hunt it. It's pretty sad that this goes on and hurts the guys that do the right thing. She is a very sweet lady and took my name and number so maybe she will give me a chance. I spent a lot of my time talking to her and didn't have much time left to detect. I rode over to a spot that I've hunted before but the main areas are developed over so I just work the edges in hopes of some original ground. I worked my way down a grown over fence line and was only getting trash and clad. I was almost to the back corner when I got a nice signal with some good depth. I dug my plug and scooped out some of the loose soil when I saw what I thought was a J hook, as I pulled it up I quickly saw that it was a snake buckle! I set it back down and just stared in disbelief. I know that these buckle were worn by guys on both sides but it seems the Rebels had them more and this area is directly on the Confederate lines. I took a bunch of pics of it there in the dirt and continued to half way hunt some more but all I could think of was that buckle and hoping to find the other side somewhere around close. I found a nice dropped Enfield but not much more along that spot. I moved down some and found a couple of Williams cleaners and Minies along with some fired lead. Needless to say I drove home with a big smile on my face and it hasn't gone away since. Even though I was bummed out about not getting on one property it lined up for me to make one awesome find to add to the collection. HH-David

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Upvote 51
Nice find. I found a snake buckle at a late 19th century fairgrounds so they were used post civil war too and unfortunately I think I found the rest of it on an earlier hunt and tossed it because I didnt know what it was. Noob mistake:BangHead:
 

well done great read. You earned that snake buckle my friend. HH
 

toasted said:
Nice find. I found a snake buckle at a late 19th century fairgrounds so they were used post civil war too and unfortunately I think I found the rest of it on an earlier hunt and tossed it because I didnt know what it was. Noob mistake:BangHead:
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Yes they were used up through WWI. A shame you tossed the rest but a cool find anyway.
 

Killer Buckle...:notworthy:
 

Sooper Dave said:
Yes they were used up through WWI. A shame you tossed the rest but a cool find anyway.
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& way after WWI as well. At lot of these are post 1900.
 

This is the first time I've ever heard of someone digging one of these. I bought a cigar box from an antique dealer in the late sixties. It had about a dozen of these in it. The man was an old family friend and swore they were genuine. A friend in the next town felt strongly enough about it to trade a hand made broad axe for one. I've traded off all but one over the years. At the time I did some research and found out they were part of a consignment of arms and accessories in a package deal from England. The Rebs kept the rifles, bayonets and cartridge boxes and discarded the rest including the buckles. The other piece should be there somewhere. If any of you folks have any more current info I'd love to see it. In the back of my mind I always suspected that the ones I purchased had come from England via another source, in later years.

Great Find, Congrats and Good Luck!
 

That deserves a dawg gone!! great find
Lil bit
 

Beautiful buckle that’s for sure.
Congrats
 

Way to go!!!! I am just starting to hunt CW sites here in GA. I will put that on my bucket list.
 

CRUSADER said:
& way after WWI as well. At lot of these are post 1900.
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Yeah and a lot of them look so close to each other it seems hard to put an exact date on most of them.
 

Reanm8er said:
This is the first time I've ever heard of someone digging one of these. I bought a cigar box from an antique dealer in the late sixties. It had about a dozen of these in it. The man was an old family friend and swore they were genuine. A friend in the next town felt strongly enough about it to trade a hand made broad axe for one. I've traded off all but one over the years. At the time I did some research and found out they were part of a consignment of arms and accessories in a package deal from England. The Rebs kept the rifles, bayonets and cartridge boxes and discarded the rest including the buckles. The other piece should be there somewhere. If any of you folks have any more current info I'd love to see it. In the back of my mind I always suspected that the ones I purchased had come from England via another source, in later years.

Great Find, Congrats and Good Luck!
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That’s a cool story. And yes these were part of the British blockade runners that were bringing arms and goods through the Union blockades and selling to both sides but the Rebel’s seem to get the most from them as they needed it the most. And yeah I’ve read there were Enfield “bundles” of rifles, bayonets, buckles, swords, etc... Thanks for the comment!
 

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