West Jersey Detecting
Gold Member
Girl, 8, finds Civil War relic
By ANNIE TASKER
The Intelligencer
Sophia Boschetto was flying her kite at [edited for my own hunting pleasure, lol] last week when she found a dirty, corroded brass button and put it in her pocket.
The 8-year-old was afraid her dad would scold her for picking up dirty things off the ground.
Instead, he took it to a museum.
Sophia’s find turned out to be a Civil War-era button that may have fallen off the uniform of a soldier from New York or New Jersey, camped in New Britain en route to serve with the Union armies. The button may have come to the surface during some recent construction near [sorry dudes TMI].
When Sophia showed the button to her father, Rob Boschetto, he noticed the words “Imperial Standard” inscribed on the back. He looked up the phrase, plus the word button, on the Internet. Up came information about Civil War uniforms.
“We said, ‘Wow, you may have found a little piece of history here,’ ” Boschetto said.
Sophia’s take on the button: “Well, it’s really old and my dad says it’s from the Civil War.”
The second-grader took the artifact to show her class at Our Lady of Mount Carmel School in Doylestown. On Saturday, she and her father took it to the Bucks County Civil War Library Museum on North Broad Street in Doylestown.
They showed Sophia’s discovery to D.J. DeSantis, a retired surgeon from Solebury who spends most Saturdays giving museum tours dressed as a Confederate general. He verified that it was an authentic Civil War button. DeSantis said it’s uncommon that such artifacts turn up on the ground outside of Civil War battlefields. The [
]was a passing-through point for the soldiers, likely an extension of a camp where the [ ]is today.
“Where she found it was very exciting,” he said. “We were all tickled pink.”
Considering its condition, the button probably isn’t worth much — a particularly sentimental collector might pay $20 for it, DeSantis said.
Father and daughter aren’t sure what they’ll do with the button. Sophia said she wants to give it to a museum. Rob said it might belong to [], in which case, they’ll return it.
[] spokesman Sean Dallas said as far as the [] is concerned, the button belongs to Sophia. That could mean some more show-and-tell for the second-grader.
“We would invite her to share it with us,” Dallas said. “We’d like to see it.”
The button’s fate is unclear. For now, father and daughter are still having fun with the fact their day in the park led them to a piece of history.
“As an 8-year-old, she really felt important,” Boschetto said.
April 8, 2008 7:03 AM
By ANNIE TASKER
The Intelligencer
Sophia Boschetto was flying her kite at [edited for my own hunting pleasure, lol] last week when she found a dirty, corroded brass button and put it in her pocket.
The 8-year-old was afraid her dad would scold her for picking up dirty things off the ground.
Instead, he took it to a museum.
Sophia’s find turned out to be a Civil War-era button that may have fallen off the uniform of a soldier from New York or New Jersey, camped in New Britain en route to serve with the Union armies. The button may have come to the surface during some recent construction near [sorry dudes TMI].
When Sophia showed the button to her father, Rob Boschetto, he noticed the words “Imperial Standard” inscribed on the back. He looked up the phrase, plus the word button, on the Internet. Up came information about Civil War uniforms.
“We said, ‘Wow, you may have found a little piece of history here,’ ” Boschetto said.
Sophia’s take on the button: “Well, it’s really old and my dad says it’s from the Civil War.”
The second-grader took the artifact to show her class at Our Lady of Mount Carmel School in Doylestown. On Saturday, she and her father took it to the Bucks County Civil War Library Museum on North Broad Street in Doylestown.
They showed Sophia’s discovery to D.J. DeSantis, a retired surgeon from Solebury who spends most Saturdays giving museum tours dressed as a Confederate general. He verified that it was an authentic Civil War button. DeSantis said it’s uncommon that such artifacts turn up on the ground outside of Civil War battlefields. The [
]was a passing-through point for the soldiers, likely an extension of a camp where the [ ]is today. “Where she found it was very exciting,” he said. “We were all tickled pink.”
Considering its condition, the button probably isn’t worth much — a particularly sentimental collector might pay $20 for it, DeSantis said.
Father and daughter aren’t sure what they’ll do with the button. Sophia said she wants to give it to a museum. Rob said it might belong to [
], in which case, they’ll return it. [
] spokesman Sean Dallas said as far as the [] is concerned, the button belongs to Sophia. That could mean some more show-and-tell for the second-grader. “We would invite her to share it with us,” Dallas said. “We’d like to see it.”
The button’s fate is unclear. For now, father and daughter are still having fun with the fact their day in the park led them to a piece of history.
“As an 8-year-old, she really felt important,” Boschetto said.
April 8, 2008 7:03 AM
