Found King Louis XVI on a button, in a trash pit... and much more.

OutdoorAdv

Bronze Member
Apr 16, 2013
2,457
3,350
East Coast - USA
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Detector(s) used
XP Deus,
GPX 4500,
Equinox 800,
AT Max
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
I sifted some more of my trash pit on Saturday, however that was not my plan. Rewind to Friday... I had off work for Good Friday, and decided to wake up with the Sun and find a cellar hole. I had about a 3 mile hike up a mountain and 3 miles back down. Based on my map overlays and topo maps, I thought I knew just where it was. Either I was way off, or I was standing next to it and it was hidden in the underbrush. The sky opened up and dumped rain on me... soaking wet, I got a hand full of modern shell casings and bullets.... I hiked back out to hit another cellar... shell casings there. So I went to the site I got the pillars and globe cufflink at a month ago and only dug clad and foil. The day was a bust, so I was home by noon to do yard work.

Saturday rolled around and I decided I needed a good hunt. I have some "good hunts" left in this trash pit that I was saving for the summer. So I decided to open up a section and sift some more. I had high hopes of unmasking a copper or a silver, but it wasnt meant to be. I did however get some good buttons, including an incredible King Louis the 16th of France button, cast with a drilled shank. Some other odds and ends turned up including a early to mid 1800's fork handle with wood intact and a cool heart inlay. Some pipe stem pieces and a few bone buttons also popped up. Other than that, a ton of glass and pottery... two 3 ringers and some carved lead.

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King Louis XVI of France was in power when the French fought for the US during the American Revolution. He was married to Marie Antoinette and eventually they were both executed at the guillotine for treason and various other crimes. I originally thought this was King George, but then I googled "LUD XVI D G FR" on the button and turns out, its a facsimile of a Louis XVI ECU silver coin obverse. I don't know what denomination a French ECU is, but it looks like its a half dollar sized silver coin. I couldn't be happier with this pewter button :headbang: Into the case he goes, along with King Carlos on the reales and King George on the coppers!

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Here he is fresh out of the dirt.

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While this post is about my hunt on Sat (3/26), I did get out for a few hours last Sun (3/20) evening (same site) and right when I thought that short hunt was going to be a bust, I wandered out of my typical grid area where its quiet and nailed this 1800 DBLC. It was in plowed soil and only an inch or two deep. Very loud and thought it was going to be big iron. It actually looks like its one of the overdate varieties.... but pretty toasted.

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This really cool fork handle came out of the pit with wood intact. I've had some experience preserving this sort of relic... after its out of the dirt and it starts to dry out, the wood will basically warp and turn to dust. Mineral oil and rubber bands will keep it together until it dries out and the oil soaks into the wood.

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There is another tiny doll arm in there. Also some more pigs teeth and some boar jaw bones turned up... and of course, some more rose heads! I actually tumbled all the nails from this pit section and I included all of them just tossed around between the pottery.

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Here is the pile of all the glass and iron. Lots of work to sort and clean all this stuff. Most if it will be put into storage and hopefully I can put together some more of the plates and bowls when I finish the pit.

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More pig and cow bones... I leave all this stuff behind, but its helps tell the story of what they were eating.

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Anyone know what this is? Its brass on the inside and iron on the outside. Perhaps a ferrule to a fork\knife or spoon.

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Some nice iron turned up too. What I believe is a chisel with some wood still on the handle. And that curved piece that reminded me of one of those "Brick Ties" that you see on the side of an old brick house to help support the wall... but I'm not sure that's what it really is.

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Man I am blown away at the condition and detail of that link. Congrats on a great redemption after your rough Friday. You deserved that killer hunt bud
 

very nice finds
 

I must say you are dedicated and your passion shows in your posts and how well you preserve your finds. Kudos to you. :notworthy::notworthy::notworthy:
 

Nice work Brad. That pewter cufflink is in superb condition - hope you find the other half in another section of the pit. :)
 

A nice post with a killer find Brad. The condition of your button is remarkable. Pewter is hit or miss...usually miss as far as condition goes. Couldn't ask for a better example. Looking forward to the next sifting expedition, I'm sure something nice will surface.

Thanks Evan! Here are some other pewters from the same site and a couple were found feet away in the same pit. Typical crusty and flaking. I really did luck out with this one. I'm pretty excited to open the adjacent section so if I get a chance, I will in the next couple weeks. I'll keep you posted.

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Glad to see your persistence paid off at the pit after a frustrating day in the rain. The Louis XVI button is certainly an interesting relic, dug a similar coin last month in SC. Nice work!

Thank you VMI Digger! I remember that thread and that coin... and I just went back and looked at it again. What a sweet French copper.

Nice bunch of finds congrats

Thanks a lot Art!

Man I am blown away at the condition and detail of that link. Congrats on a great redemption after your rough Friday. You deserved that killer hunt bud

Thanks a lot man! When I was in the field I didn't think much of it and figured it was pretty toasted. Aluminum Jelly got it presentable and I could no doubt remove the rest of that caked on dirt with it. But I'm too cautious to do that and think I'll leave it for now. Felt good to get a nice find in after that tough Friday... but its good to have Fridays like that in the field to keep us grounded after we have good days too. ha

very nice finds

Thank you can!

I must say you are dedicated and your passion shows in your posts and how well you preserve your finds. Kudos to you. :notworthy::notworthy::notworthy:

Thank you Loco! It is a lot of work to get stuff from dirty and rusty, as-dug, to displayable and looking good in the pictures. I know many people keep journals of their hunts... I don't. But each hunt gets a folder on my computer with the date, machine and site... then I fill it with pictures of what I found. It's nice to be able to go back and look at my posts and pictures later on.

Nice work Brad. That pewter cufflink is in superb condition - hope you find the other half in another section of the pit. :)

Thanks Keith! Hopefully another one shows up. I'd be nice to find a linked pair one day.
 

Nice finds Brad, you worked hard for them.
 

There it is! I was wondering when you were going to post!! That button is stunning - congrats.

Great sifting. I'm always amazed on what comes out of the ground. Nice work Brad!!!!
 

Nice finds Brad, you worked hard for them.

Thanks a ton Brad! I was definitely hard work, but some of that is my own fault because of the hand held sifter I've been using. I'm going to put some legs on it this weekend and hopefully that makes me more efficient and saves my back out there. ha
 

There it is! I was wondering when you were going to post!! That button is stunning - congrats.

Great sifting. I'm always amazed on what comes out of the ground. Nice work Brad!!!!

Thanks a ton Steve! I'm constantly amazed as well. I had removed all the dirt from this pit section and was scanning the hole with the Deus and got a hit in the side wall at the bottom around 10" deep. I popped that King Louis out of the bottom side wall... I don't even want to guess how many times I have covered this area where I'm digging the pit... but I can assure you that any non-ferrous tone has long been remove by me... and I even dug out a lot of the ferrous tones to test for where I should expand the pit to. ha Its a blast to shovel out some dirt and get a slamming signal in an area that was otherwise silent. While I get most of the nails, the back fill out of my sifter is still littered with small iron, which is why I am constantly scanning the dirt with my machine since things are constantly being masked in there. Its a ton of fun.
 

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