Glen's Loyalists
Full Member
- Jan 7, 2024
- 110
- 465
It's been a while since we were out, but we go out the other day and found a few nice things. I am letting a buddy bow hunt on my land so these items are from another site that we visit from time to time, more lately.
Find of the day has to be this buckle. We have found cricket related items in the past but this is our first base ball item. Judging from the context of the site, late 1700's thru to about 1930, and the pressed copper manufacture, our guess would be 1870's thru to 1910's. It could, however, be a child's buckle form the 1930's', I really don't know. Halifax had its first base ball team in 1868, although games were played here earlier. I suspect that this was manufactured in the USA, so if any one out there has any knowledge of these I would really like to hear your opinion, my thoughts are guesses at best.
I found a worn but nice George III half penny, 1770's, I have found a lot of these but they are always welcome. One of my favorite coins to find.
My son found a nice bell along with a Hame knob, that still has the pin as well as some horn inside.
On a trip out about a week earlier, I found a nice 63rd Regiment of Foot (West Suffolk) button. This is an interesting regiment. Raised in 1756 due to the 7 Years War, they fought at Bunker Hill in 1775 before heading briefly to Halifax in 1776 before going back for the Battle of Long Island. They came back to Halifax in 1856 after Crimea and stayed until 1865. This button would date from that era.
Another interesting button we got that day it this one. I can't quite make out the Gothic lettering above and below the arrow. For some reason this design seems very familiar but I can't place it. It's likely a livery button of some type, but there was some suggestions of perhaps a boarding school or something of the sort. Does it look familiar to anyone? The maker is most likely Firman's. The thread is always nice.
My son found an unmarked silver fern:
He also found an 1864 Nova Scotia Half Penny. These things seem to be made of sugar, they just dissolve in the ground and ring up very poorly. But it is a nice addition to our growing collection of beautiful portraits on destroyed coins. I am coming to really like these actually, a new collecting niche.
As I have them all out, here is a quick round up of the better finds from this site, some of the items you have seen recently in my posts, and I won't rehash those, but a lot of the earlier finds I have not posted before:
(missing is a bag of about 5 more crotal bells that I have to dig out.)
The ground is very clay and wet and tends to be murder on copper coins, some have survived better than others:
Most are Canadian large cents from 1859 thru to 1920, along with some provincial coins of 1824 and the 1860's, also an 1871 PEI cent, early 1800's tokens and three George III half pennies. The silver quarters are always nice, and the 1918 penny to the right of them is one of the best we have found.
Here are the better buttons, which are among my favorite finds,
The top two are Royal Marines, c.1790's, the 62nd would be War of 1812 era, a Victorian artillery button from after 1850's, a nice livery button and a damaged Volunteers button.
These spectacles were found under a huge old apple tree where the ground is more rock than soil. They aren't even really scratched, a testament to the quality of the glass then vs the quality in the the lenses of my glasses now.
A couple of gun related items that my son found, a very cool bit of flint wrapped in lead and what would be a trigger guard from an early pistol.
Here is an interesting bit of Iron that I have been puzzling over:
There are two pieces that have a coiled spring between them. One bit is split and fits around either side of the the other arm. The spring would want to keep them closed. The only thing that I can think of is part of a canvas carriage top support as this is where we found so many carriage related items. Any thoughts?
A bit of silver is always nice:
This is something that we have puzzled over. I am sure it is a key tag. Some of it legible, but how I wish I could read the rest. A dollar reward was a lot of money back in the day.
Here is a comparison of one of the powder flasks found at this site along with an undamaged one:
This though, is my favorite I think, the best bit of broken spoonage we have ever found, and it's early:
Good Hunting Everyone
Find of the day has to be this buckle. We have found cricket related items in the past but this is our first base ball item. Judging from the context of the site, late 1700's thru to about 1930, and the pressed copper manufacture, our guess would be 1870's thru to 1910's. It could, however, be a child's buckle form the 1930's', I really don't know. Halifax had its first base ball team in 1868, although games were played here earlier. I suspect that this was manufactured in the USA, so if any one out there has any knowledge of these I would really like to hear your opinion, my thoughts are guesses at best.
I found a worn but nice George III half penny, 1770's, I have found a lot of these but they are always welcome. One of my favorite coins to find.
My son found a nice bell along with a Hame knob, that still has the pin as well as some horn inside.
On a trip out about a week earlier, I found a nice 63rd Regiment of Foot (West Suffolk) button. This is an interesting regiment. Raised in 1756 due to the 7 Years War, they fought at Bunker Hill in 1775 before heading briefly to Halifax in 1776 before going back for the Battle of Long Island. They came back to Halifax in 1856 after Crimea and stayed until 1865. This button would date from that era.
Another interesting button we got that day it this one. I can't quite make out the Gothic lettering above and below the arrow. For some reason this design seems very familiar but I can't place it. It's likely a livery button of some type, but there was some suggestions of perhaps a boarding school or something of the sort. Does it look familiar to anyone? The maker is most likely Firman's. The thread is always nice.
My son found an unmarked silver fern:
He also found an 1864 Nova Scotia Half Penny. These things seem to be made of sugar, they just dissolve in the ground and ring up very poorly. But it is a nice addition to our growing collection of beautiful portraits on destroyed coins. I am coming to really like these actually, a new collecting niche.
As I have them all out, here is a quick round up of the better finds from this site, some of the items you have seen recently in my posts, and I won't rehash those, but a lot of the earlier finds I have not posted before:
(missing is a bag of about 5 more crotal bells that I have to dig out.)
The ground is very clay and wet and tends to be murder on copper coins, some have survived better than others:
Most are Canadian large cents from 1859 thru to 1920, along with some provincial coins of 1824 and the 1860's, also an 1871 PEI cent, early 1800's tokens and three George III half pennies. The silver quarters are always nice, and the 1918 penny to the right of them is one of the best we have found.
Here are the better buttons, which are among my favorite finds,
The top two are Royal Marines, c.1790's, the 62nd would be War of 1812 era, a Victorian artillery button from after 1850's, a nice livery button and a damaged Volunteers button.
These spectacles were found under a huge old apple tree where the ground is more rock than soil. They aren't even really scratched, a testament to the quality of the glass then vs the quality in the the lenses of my glasses now.
A couple of gun related items that my son found, a very cool bit of flint wrapped in lead and what would be a trigger guard from an early pistol.
Here is an interesting bit of Iron that I have been puzzling over:
There are two pieces that have a coiled spring between them. One bit is split and fits around either side of the the other arm. The spring would want to keep them closed. The only thing that I can think of is part of a canvas carriage top support as this is where we found so many carriage related items. Any thoughts?
A bit of silver is always nice:
This is something that we have puzzled over. I am sure it is a key tag. Some of it legible, but how I wish I could read the rest. A dollar reward was a lot of money back in the day.
Here is a comparison of one of the powder flasks found at this site along with an undamaged one:
This though, is my favorite I think, the best bit of broken spoonage we have ever found, and it's early:
Good Hunting Everyone
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