Silver Tree Chaser
Bronze Member
I went back to the new site that produced the key date 1877 Indian Head penny from two weeks ago. It was my first return trip. While the site again offered only a scarce number of finds, I recovered a wonderful patriotic rattlesnake and stars button only five minutes into a two hour search. 
This site is perplexing, but it's all good! It has given up little in terms of volume over the past two hunts, but the results have been fantastic all the same. My only other finds from my search consisted of a plain flat button, a brass rivet, a dime, a brass harness buckle, and a assortment of mangled sheet brass, aluminum, lead, tin, etc. I must admit that my recent run of luck at least at this one site is similar to the story lines on some of those discreditable TV treasure hunting shows.
Research on the button indicates that it’s likely late-18th century, brass, and possibly of French manufacture. A. Alberts designates it as a PC 4 (patriotic and commemorative) button. The button is quite thin and delicate, so there’s some surface loss with clear delamination along the rim. The snake’s head with tail in mouth has little or no detail, but the overall button has a fairly good patina (the best substitute for a total absence of gilt). It has no unsightly corrosion, no gouges, and no scratches. The shank is fully intact. For being buried in the ground for 200+ years, it's held up fairly well. I read that the use of the snake as a symbol for the fledging United States of America goes back to 1754, when Benjamin Franklin used a snake for that exact purpose in the very first political cartoon to appear in the colonies.
Noticing the stars on the button, I counted them while in the field – “1, 2, 3, …13 – hmmm?”
I didn’t recognize the snake on the rim of the button while out in the field. Later in the day at home, I checked Albert’s book and dismissed the find, as I saw nothing recognizable. I had kept the button in a air-tight container of dirt from the field, and late at night I removed it for an overnight soak in mineral oil. That’s when I took a closer look and noticed the button’s uneven rim. It was not a rim; it was a rattlesnake! Upon recognizing the rattlesnake, I knew exactly what I had from seeing a few of the examples posted on T-Net. What a surprising end to the day! Hopefully, I'll find a GWI button one of the days (still on my wish list), but if it never happens, I'll at least have this button and be proud to have recovered it.
Good Hunting!
This site is perplexing, but it's all good! It has given up little in terms of volume over the past two hunts, but the results have been fantastic all the same. My only other finds from my search consisted of a plain flat button, a brass rivet, a dime, a brass harness buckle, and a assortment of mangled sheet brass, aluminum, lead, tin, etc. I must admit that my recent run of luck at least at this one site is similar to the story lines on some of those discreditable TV treasure hunting shows.
Research on the button indicates that it’s likely late-18th century, brass, and possibly of French manufacture. A. Alberts designates it as a PC 4 (patriotic and commemorative) button. The button is quite thin and delicate, so there’s some surface loss with clear delamination along the rim. The snake’s head with tail in mouth has little or no detail, but the overall button has a fairly good patina (the best substitute for a total absence of gilt). It has no unsightly corrosion, no gouges, and no scratches. The shank is fully intact. For being buried in the ground for 200+ years, it's held up fairly well. I read that the use of the snake as a symbol for the fledging United States of America goes back to 1754, when Benjamin Franklin used a snake for that exact purpose in the very first political cartoon to appear in the colonies.
Noticing the stars on the button, I counted them while in the field – “1, 2, 3, …13 – hmmm?”
I didn’t recognize the snake on the rim of the button while out in the field. Later in the day at home, I checked Albert’s book and dismissed the find, as I saw nothing recognizable. I had kept the button in a air-tight container of dirt from the field, and late at night I removed it for an overnight soak in mineral oil. That’s when I took a closer look and noticed the button’s uneven rim. It was not a rim; it was a rattlesnake! Upon recognizing the rattlesnake, I knew exactly what I had from seeing a few of the examples posted on T-Net. What a surprising end to the day! Hopefully, I'll find a GWI button one of the days (still on my wish list), but if it never happens, I'll at least have this button and be proud to have recovered it. Good Hunting!
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