Franklin Pierce medallion and military buttons

[metalev4]

Hunted an 1850s dragoon fort for 3 hours. Love buttons and all are excellent. Always wanted to dig an early ordinance and it finally happened. The dragoon is nice as well. Most interesting find is the Brig Gen. Franklin Pierce medallion. It has an 1851 patent date. Help with an ID would be appreciated. He served in the Mexican war before becoming president in 1853. Many of the soldiers who served under him later were posted at this fort in the 1850s. Thanks for looking

 

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[CC Hunter]

Amazing Find!

The Brigr. Gen. Franklin Pierce "medallion" is in fact a fairly scarce suspender buckle from the 1850's.

There are several varieties of the round disk suspender buckles following the Elisha Steele patent design from December 1850. In my collection I have the Hail Columbia Eagle, Christian Cross (Patent 1846&9), Odd Fellows, Jenny Lind, Winfield Scott Maj. Gen. U.S. (Patent 1851). Two of those are personal finds, with the balance collected from other recoveries around the country.

CC Hunter

 

[Ahab8]

Wow that’s a really cool find. And great info CC

 

[CC Hunter]

A number of the Hail Columbia Eagle suspender buckles of this style were recovered from the Steamship Arabia that sank in 1856.

CC Hunter

 

[vpnavy]

Nice finds metalev4. Thanks for sharing...

 

[Hawks88]

Some real nice saves. Plus a quick ID from CC Hunter. Congratulations to both.

 

[Professor of Engineering]

Congratualtions on the nice piece of history find!

 

[metalev4]

Thanks for the ID and information. I think I found part of the rear attachment piece as well need to look through my pouch.

 

[Javadroid]

An excellent day out and some great historic relics there - congrats to you, well done!

 

[Ogre1190]

Never seen one of those. VERY cool find! 🙌

 

[CC Hunter]

I think I found part of the rear attachment piece as well need to look through my pouch.

metalev4,

If you found any of the missing parts, you are indeed very fortunate. The first example of an Elisha Steele style suspender buckle that I dug was missing a lot, including the entire rivet tab. On some varieties, the flat back disk piece is tinned sheet iron, so those rarely if ever survive well.

Here is a nice example of the Odd Fellows design from my collection.

CC Hunter

 

[metalev4]

That’s a really nice example. Thanks for posting. I will post the pieces I thought might be associated this weekend.

 

[DetectingGodlikeOnOlympus]

That is a fantastic grouping of Western finds, and I really appreciate the information on the Steele style suspender ends.