Beautiful US Cartridge Box Plate – Pre Civil War

Mike N Tn.

Full Member
Jul 1, 2008
135
862
Middle Tennessee
Detector(s) used
Minelab E-Trac, Equinox 600,
and Fisher F75
I was detecting an old roadbed in the woods of a winter of 1863 “hunted out” camp near Shelbyville Tennessee when I unearthed this beautiful US Cartridge Box Plate. I was surprised at the great condition of the plate as it was only five inches deep.
The reference book said the plate is Pre Civil War from the 1840’s. It has fatter letters than the ones I usually find, and it’s not eaten up from acid rain and fertilizer. I’ll never know for sure, but I theorize that relic hunters in the past probably thought the Cartridge Box Plate signal was from a soda can, or maybe the iron in the back of the plate discriminated the signal from older detectors. I also found camp lead, a J hook, and some horseshoes. I was using an Equinox 600.
 

Attachments

  • April 2023 US Box Plate front.JPG
    April 2023 US Box Plate front.JPG
    77.2 KB · Views: 134
  • April 2023 US Box Plate back.JPG
    April 2023 US Box Plate back.JPG
    77.7 KB · Views: 86
  • April 2023 US Box Plate just dug.JPG
    April 2023 US Box Plate just dug.JPG
    35.8 KB · Views: 86
Upvote 40
thats a good looking plate, nice work! are you gonna do any restoration to it past a basic clean?
Basic cleaning - soap and water - It was pretty caked with dirt. I like to leave a relic with as much patina as possible, So... no restoration. Leaving as is.
 

Fantastic find!! Congrats!!
 

I was detecting an old roadbed in the woods of a winter of 1863 “hunted out” camp near Shelbyville Tennessee when I unearthed this beautiful US Cartridge Box Plate. I was surprised at the great condition of the plate as it was only five inches deep.
The reference book said the plate is Pre Civil War from the 1840’s. It has fatter letters than the ones I usually find, and it’s not eaten up from acid rain and fertilizer. I’ll never know for sure, but I theorize that relic hunters in the past probably thought the Cartridge Box Plate signal was from a soda can, or maybe the iron in the back of the plate discriminated the signal from older detectors. I also found camp lead, a J hook, and some horseshoes. I was using an Equinox 600.
Awesome!!! Congrats!!!
 

Top Member Reactions

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top