Complete Colonial Shoe Buckle, Springfield 1810 Bayonet, 1819 LC and more...

OutdoorAdv

Bronze Member
Apr 16, 2013
2,457
3,350
East Coast - USA
🥇 Banner finds
1
Detector(s) used
XP Deus,
GPX 4500,
Equinox 800,
AT Max
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
*UPDATE*: Its a modified Springfield Pattern 1810 Bayonet. Modified for use during the War of 1812!! Lots more information in post #37 on page 3.
Here are some quick links to the comments in this thread with the bayonet information:
Bayonet Post Electrolysis Pictures
Bayonet Identification Email


This was my first trip with my new XP Deus. I spent 9 hours in the field today, getting to know the machine by digging everything, including the signals I knew were big iron. (Picture of all the iron at the bottom, was 40+ lbs) Anyway, in the midst of digging all the big iron, I hit the jackpot with a beautiful bayonet. It was a signal I know I listened to many times on my V3i, then on my T2 and today I dug it in the process of learning my XP Deus. I still have no idea what style bayonet is it, however it does not match any in my CW Crouch book. (Based on its size I feel like it might be older than CW)

After the bayonet I went to another part of the field and dug something that has been a huge goal of mine... a COMPLETE Colonial Shoe Buckle. When you guys post complete shoe buckles I drool over them... for some reason I think they are one of the coolest colonial relics. I always dig the frames, pieces of frames, chapes or tongues... but never thought I'd hold a complete one. The frame is cracked, but its all together and a find I will never forget. Later in the day I hit another large shoe buckle frame. I am still learning to pinpoint with the Deus and was very happy I didn't nick either of those buckles.

A Crusty LC (I believe its 1819) showed up, as well as a 1880 IHP. 4 more pocket knives today, that brings my total to 14 pocket knives from this site total.

IMG_20151004_185548072.jpg

The complete buckle is one of my all time favorite relics.

IMG_20151004_185854069_HDR.jpgIMG_20151004_185906756_HDR.jpg
IMG_20151004_185927447_HDR.jpgIMG_20151004_185935863_HDR.jpg

This button is huge. Its one piece cast brass and I put it with the LC for size comparison. It has a wheat ears on the border and sun or flower in the middle with what looks to me like a "8" in the very center. When I saw how big it was and that there was a design, the first thing I thought was "GW"! ha

IMG_20151004_185950845_HDR.jpgIMG_20151004_190006526_HDR.jpgIMG_20151004_190214087_HDR.jpg

IMG_20151004_185159038.jpgIMG_20151004_185213110.jpg

Cow #7's tag blew my headphones off... I saw the edge of a thick brass piece in the hole and I had a mild heart attack. I thought I might have a brass buckle, but instead I got a worn through cow tag.

IMG_20151004_185231863.jpgIMG_20151004_185240123.jpg

This is a cool piece of brass with some hand engraved initials... Not sure what it went to, but someone punched "L.W" into it. My guess is that it was part of a knife handle.

IMG_20151004_185455639.jpg

Here are the bayonet measurements. I would really like to ID it. Its in electrolysis now and I think it will come out looking great. There is minimal pitting on it and I am hoping there are some markings I will be able to see once its preserved. Any ideas on what kind it is?

IMG_20151004_185756872.jpgIMG_20151004_185257529.jpg
IMG_20151004_185638965.jpgIMG_20151004_185724418.jpg
IMG_20151004_185741568.jpgIMG_20151004_190742668.jpg

Here is the iron... I'm exhausted from digging and carrying all that home. Digging this iron gave me a good feel for the Deus and I can now tell what a piece of big iron sounds like when it rings in as a high tone... although, after the bayonet, I might just keep digging it all anyway.
IMG_20151004_172218035.jpg
 

Last edited:
Upvote 28
That is some serious toil for some really great pieces of history. Congrats!
 

Can you take some closeup pictures of the bayonet? Especially the socket and where the blade attaches. Fantastic finds!
 

An epic day for you Brad. Thanks for the blow-by-blow updates. After just one day it looks like you can really tell the difference with the new machine. The more time you get under your belt with it the more productive you're gonna be. Great going on the bayonet and buckles. Looks like a display expansion may be in order again.
 

Wow!! Thats all I keeped saying today.. Ask my wife..lol
Your first outing with the deus you did fantastic. That bayonet is a bucket lister for me.
And the shoe buckle is a beautiful puce of history im very fond of.. You had a great hunt Brad. And im sure you are a tiered camper!!
Great hunt again with your first spin with deus. Congrats
George
Ps is that a cannon ball I see??
 

Very nice finds my friend! That complete buckle is awesome and that other frame is colonial as well. I have one just like it. Oh wait, aaaand the LC? Buttons? Great man. Stellar day!
Steve
 

Wow!! Thats all I keeped saying today.. Ask my wife..lol
Your first outing with the deus you did fantastic. That bayonet is a bucket lister for me.
And the shoe buckle is a beautiful puce of history im very fond of.. You had a great hunt Brad. And im sure you are a tiered camper!!
Great hunt again with your first spin with deus. Congrats
George
Ps is that a cannon ball I see??

Thank you George, and thank you again for cracking the Deus learning curve for me. I would not have found what I found without your help.

I used the program you gave me all day with very small changes... and I figured out your secret... its not crushed clovers and pixie dust like Scrappy said, your XP Deus program actually generates the relics under the coil. The don't exist, and then as you swing the Deus, it spawns the relics and then you dig them up. Thats gotta be it. haha How else would I have dug a shoe buckle and a bayonet!

Yes, I meant to mention that, I think its a broken canister shot. It has a mold seam and I found another this spring about 50 yards from the one today. I am going to put it through electrolysis this week.

I toggled to a couple other programs to check signals and the one you gave me seemed to be best in most circumstances. The hardest part about the Deus for me is determining ferrous and non ferrous. After a while I got used to the Full Tones low tone ferrous grunts. And I learned the trick for big iron with a high tone, to wiggle back off the target and get a low grunt. I still dug it all just to verify.

Thanks again George!
 

Very nice finds my friend! That complete buckle is awesome and that other frame is colonial as well. I have one just like it. Oh wait, aaaand the LC? Buttons? Great man. Stellar day!
Steve

Thanks Steve! Yeah, the other frame would have typically made my hunt, but I found it after the bayonet, complete buckle and LC... so I was numb to it. ha

Your comment about buttons reminded me that I left out a closeup of a tombac... Its in the orig pictures to the right of the LC, but you cant really see it. The tombac metal had some black tarnish and I thought it was silver for a bit. Did the ice cube test and I fairly certain its just a tombac though.

IMG_20151004_210918473_HDR.jpgIMG_20151004_210905842_HDR.jpg
 

An epic day for you Brad. Thanks for the blow-by-blow updates. After just one day it looks like you can really tell the difference with the new machine. The more time you get under your belt with it the more productive you're gonna be. Great going on the bayonet and buckles. Looks like a display expansion may be in order again.

Thank you Bill! It really was a epic day for me. Its not as exciting as digging the pit, but the highs were higher today. Quality over quantity. I've probably mentioned to you a half dozen times that I want a complete shoe buckle... that was the last thing I expected to come out of the hole today.

I quickly made room at the top shelf of the case for the two buckles from today. I think I'll move stuff out of this case into storage when I run out of room. From this site, I have a chape and tongue that doesn't fit any frame I found, and many frames and bits without chapes and tongues... so there's lots more buckle pieces waiting.
IMG_20151004_213427689.jpgIMG_20151004_213433378.jpg
 

Can you take some closeup pictures of the bayonet? Especially the socket and where the blade attaches. Fantastic finds!

Hey oxbow, I had a bunch of close up's of the socket in my original post. Is the picture you're looking for just where the blade attached to the socket? My original pictures didn't have that very clear. When it came out, I actually thought of yours that you dug a few months ago! I'll snap some more pictures when I check on the electrolysis progress and post them. Would really like to figure out what it is.
 

That is some serious toil for some really great pieces of history. Congrats!

Thank you! I'm beat... it was a long day.

Nice hunt and congrats on the Bayonet.
I can't wait to see what it looks like after eletrolysis

Thank you. I will absolutely update this post when its done. I think it will turn out pretty nice since it wasn't very pitted.
 

Great stuff man, but I am ALL ABOUT that bayonet. The condition is seriously unbelievable! Was it in water?! What kind of soil did you find it in? Good luck with ID - I'll be waiting to hear . . .
 

One heck of a test hunt for your new detector. I guess we know which is your favorite now!
 

See any marks ?
I believe it may contain some.... but ? ? ?
Light wipe down may reveal some... and it may have none.

P3180036%20(Large).JPG
P3180037%20(Large).JPG
28-7.jpg

TO ME IT LOOKS LIKE... Repeat LOOKS LIKE...
It MAY BE... a Prussian 1809 socket... Potsdam musket bayonet... imported 1860 to America that was likely used in Civil War but ? ? ?
AND... what may be really killer IF this is a positive id on this being this is...
that it could have seen service in other major conflict(s) prior to being shipped to the U.S... like Napoleonic wars. maybe even 2 of em.

Oh... and...
EPIC hunt.
WD
 

Last edited:
I felt like I was a kid on Christmas morning and I wasted no time going to the garage to see the bayonet progress this morning... It looks awesome. I've had good luck doing electrolysis on blades in the past... maybe its their high carbon content? Anyway, the thing is going to look amazing when its done. I couldn't have been luckier for my first (and maybe only) bayonet.

It has stamps! It looks like there is a "17" on the socket and "111" on the blade.

I had my calipers set to fraction inches in the original pictures... I realize after looking at resources that might not be the best unit. Here they are in a different format.

Socket Length: 2.95" (75mm)
Socket Inside Diameter: .95" (24mm)
Socket Outside Diameter: 1.15" (29mm)
Overall length from blade tip to end of socket is 18.75"

I've searching and I cant find any that match it exact. But it looks most like the US M1816 and M1819, except the groove in the socket is shaped wrong... but otherwise it would be close to one of those. Bayonets Listed by Overall Length

Here are a whole bunch of pictures. The color is a bit washed out in these since I cranked up the lighting to show the stamp details. It looks much better and I will add some completed photos to this post in a couple days when its done being preserved.

"111" on the blade base
IMG_20151005_070510720.jpg

"17" on the socket side
IMG_20151005_070533631.jpg

IMG_20151005_070558271.jpgIMG_20151005_070623454.jpg
IMG_20151005_070635137.jpgIMG_20151005_070658315.jpg
IMG_20151005_070547609.jpgIMG_20151005_070647958.jpg
 

OA DAMN MAN WHAT NICE RELICS YOU HAVE THERE . THE BLEEDER I AM THINKING STRAIGHT RAZOR HANDLE TOP RIGHT CORNER OF PIC BESIDE THE SMALL SHOT IS A NICE FIND AND THE BAYONET ALSO , HELL ALL OF IT IS AND THE BUCKLE IS A KILLER ,CONGRATS ON ALL YOUR FINDS , UNREAL ... I MADE A MISTAKE USING THE WORD BLEEDER IT WAS TO BE STRAIGHT RAZOR , DOH !!!!! MEDICATION TIME .
 

Last edited:
Dude Colonial buckle,bayonet and coppers what more could you ask for:headbang:

Is that buckle stamped in the corner or is that wear?

~Blaze~
 

Great stuff man, but I am ALL ABOUT that bayonet. The condition is seriously unbelievable! Was it in water?! What kind of soil did you find it in? Good luck with ID - I'll be waiting to hear . . .

Thank you... actually it was in dark soil on high ground. I think that maybe this dark soil drains well. I've had good results in this area with some relics and coins.. I've found a few LCs in the same area its kind on them. (This LC and CT were in the same area http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/t...r-1827-lc-kg-ii-us-calvary-bit-boss-more.html) In the plowed area of this site its a different story... just 20 feet away the coins and relics come out looking unidentifiable from fertilizer. I really lucked out.

Just an insane number of quality digs, that bayonet sure makes me think about digging more of those iron signals. Heck of a day:thumbsup:

Thank you! The two stirrups in my profile picture were some other good iron finds. It's a lot of work, but iron is some of my favorite relics... I just have to dig 1,000 pieces of junk iron for each keeper. ha

One heck of a test hunt for your new detector. I guess we know which is your favorite now!

Thank you OD! I think it might be #1 now, but I still love my T2. I know the T2 would have gotten the LC and large flat button, but I know it went over the buckles and the small tombac. I didn't have it there to compare signals though, so I cant say for sure. I'll probably use them together and hit sites with both... a diff detector always seems to reveal more at the same place.

See any marks ?
I believe it may contain some.... but ? ? ?
Light wipe down may reveal some... and it may have none.

View attachment 1219257
View attachment 1219256
View attachment 1219260

TO ME IT LOOKS LIKE... Repeat LOOKS LIKE...
It MAY BE... a Prussian 1809 socket... Potsdam musket bayonet... imported 1860 to America that was likely used in Civil War but ? ? ?
AND... what may be really killer IF this is a positive id on this being this is...
that it could have seen service in other major conflict(s) prior to being shipped to the U.S... like Napoleonic wars. maybe even 2 of em.

Oh... and...
EPIC hunt.
WD

Thank you AARC! There are marks... a "111" on the blade and "17" on the socket. That would be awesome if it was a Prussian 1809 tied to possible history like that. I googled 1809 and it looks a lot like it, but the lip on the socket has a notch on the prussian one and the blade is cupped different. I really can't seem to find a bayonet that matches this one... hopefully it has some history like you mentioned though.
 

Top Member Reactions

Users who are viewing this thread

Latest Discussions

Back
Top