Buckle Button And Axe

artyfacts

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May 1, 2010
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Spent five hours on a new site today with a large cellar hole, on a hill, in the woods, along the shoreline. I think the site was worked by someone with an older machine. All of iron was left behind, big stuff and small between 8 and 15 inches deep. The non ferrous items were found next to the iron. When I walked up to the site the first thing I dug was a broken axe head and found the button in the same hole I thought the place was going to be loaded. I was wrong it was already picked. I'm still happy with the iron and the few other items I found. The buckle was found on the top of the log splitter in the same hole. The buzzer is the third I have dug in two different sites in the last month. The suspender buckle still has some gilt left on it and its a little on the fancy side. The brass item is two inches long. I know it was nailed to the tip of something. Any Ideas? The little iron spike could it be to a spear or is it a awl? The full axe was sweet, 7 1/2 inches long. Its going to clean up nice, I like finding axes. Lantern parts, scythe, draw knife and -----the ticks are out. Arty
 

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The shoe buckle chape indicates that you need to go back and hit that site harder. :icon_thumleft: There are Colonial coins lurking under the iron. ;D

Kirk :hello:
 

The item in the last picture in the upper right hand corner may be a clipped edge buckle made around 1820. Could be worth some money.
 

Dman said:
The item in the last picture in the upper right hand corner may be a clipped edge buckle made around 1820. Could be worth some money.

When it came out of the ground I thought it was buckle but was not sure. Wasn't sure because of the fasteners. The front is plain and it is 3 1/8 x 2 1/2. Thanks for the heads up, I will have to research clipped edge buckle. Arty
 

Dman said:
The item in the last picture in the upper right hand corner may be a clipped edge buckle made around 1820. Could be worth some money.

Thanks Dman for the info. The one I dug is a crusty green, it should be a new catagory... My first big belt buckle. Its a match. It reads like this, Beautiful condition excavated early 1800s - Prewar - Militia cross belt plate. These are recovered quite often in Confederate camps, so were apparently carried over and used in the Civil War from an earlier era. This one was recovered near Richmond, VA. and has a slick "olive green" patina.--$150.

And the pics...
 

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artyfacts said:
Now I'm confused,,,,, after reading Buckleboy and IP's comments in the site http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,264025.0.html. The info I viewed came from, http://www.midtenrelics.com/buckles.htm , he has it listed as a buckle, it also has some smart guys book opened to pics of the same... I know that historians and written history can be wrong. Any info on trunk plates out there??? I couldnt find anything on this type of trunk plate. Thanks for the info umrgolf. Arty


Of course I could be wrong, but Id think if there were any chance of it being a valuable plate, Iron Patch's response would have been much different.
 

artyfacts said:
Now I'm confused,,,,, after reading Buckleboy and IP's comments in the site http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,264025.0.html. The info I viewed came from, http://www.midtenrelics.com/buckles.htm , he has it listed as a buckle, it also has some smart guys book opened to pics of the same... I know that historians and written history can be wrong. Any info on trunk plates out there??? I couldnt find anything on this type of trunk plate. Thanks for the info umrgolf. Arty


Don Troiani is the last poster on the other thread so I would expect he would know. Also, an early 18th century militia plate would be an extremely rare find here as I can only think of one early 1800s American military button found... so to think Ironhorse and I each dug a "Militia plate" off the same site on back to back hunts, no way. Plus like I said in the thread the military here was Rev War (Loyalist) and no other marked buttons.

All that being said, I wonder what's up with the reference book used, and that sure is a pretty small plate only being 56mm. I have seen pictures of sheet brass clip corner plates and I believe they are quite large, and are quite a bit different than the ones we have in question.
 

IP on the versions that you have are the posts on the back of the plate the same?
 

artyfacts said:
IP on the versions that you have are the posts on the back of the plate the same?
 

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IP the hooks on the back of your plate are like the one listed in the book. The one I have has a different hook setup. I emailed Larry from the buckle site and he said,

Hi Art,

According to Lon Keim's book -- It's an 1820 to 1840 cross belt plate.

Best,

Larry

I gave him the size of my plate 3 x 2 1/2 but I think he just threw a email at me without doing any comparisons. Anyone have the Lon Keim's book. There looks to be other examples under the one pictured and it looks like my hook configuration. Arty
 

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artyfacts said:
IP the hooks on the back of your plate are like the one listed in the book. The one I have has a different hook setup. I emailed Larry from the buckle site and he said,

Hi Art,

According to Lon Keim's book -- It's an 1820 to 1840 cross belt plate.

Best,

Larry

I gave him the size of my plate 3 x 2 1/2 but I think he just threw a email at me without doing any comparisons. Anyone have the smart guys book. There looks to be other examples under the one pictured and it looks like my hook configuration. Arty


Interesting but I'd like to know what units would have wore such a "plate" because as I said 1800s American military items aren't found here... well very few. And two think two plates were found at a small site without a single 1800s button. Just by that alone I believe the book is wrong. They no doubt were found at CW camps so maybe it was just a mistake.
 

Interesting but I'd like to know what units would have wore such a "plate" because as I said 1800s American military items aren't found here... well very few. And two think two plates were found at a small site without a single 1800s button. Just by that alone I believe the book is wrong. They no doubt were found at CW camps so maybe it was just a mistake.

IP, I understand your apprehension. Is it possible that the plates were carried there by others whatever they are? I do not know what size your plates are in comparison but, the page that was shown has more of the same with a different hook layout that matches the one I have and there may be more. As far as trunk plates, any info? I could not find anything that matches. Arty
 

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