over 2 decades and finally dug my 1st plate!

[TokenMan]

1992 is when I started CW relic hunting here in VA, a late start, and as the years went by, it seemed I was many years too late to find any plates in these pounded sites around here. Found my share of CW history, in the form of buttons and bullets, etc... but no plates ever. I talked with many "old timers" that started diggin in the 60's...and they always told me, "we didn't get it all...most, but not all. Keep swinging." Well today I dug one they left behind. My 1st one and couldn't be more excited! It's a US cartridge box plate. A great day indeed! Thanks for looking and have a great evening. I'm gearing up for The Walking Dead...if I can stop looking at this.

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

Agony and Death on a Gold Rush Steamer: The Disastrous Sinking of the Side-Wheeler Yankee Blade - Grab it through Amazon!

[maccounty]

Sweet!!! Congratulations!!! Long wait but we'll worth it!

 

[UnderMiner]

I refuse to believe that the old timer metal detectorists have found even close to everything.
It's still out there - and it probably will be for many hundreds of years to come.
Congrats on finding a great piece of US history!! So cool!

 

[trapperart]

Congrats on a great find

 

[Scrappy]

Wow that's a beauty! People ask us why don't we sell our finds...

I'm sure you'll never let that plate leave the hands that became dirty, callus, dried out and cracked from 20 years searching.
Congrats

 

[TokenMan]

Sweet!!! Congratulations!!! Long wait but we'll worth it!

Thanks, yes it was!

 

[williedigit]

1992 is when I started CW relic hunting here in VA, a late start, and as the years went by, it seemed I was many years too late to find any plates in these pounded sites around here. Found my share of CW history, in the form of buttons and bullets, etc... but no plates ever. I talked with many "old timers" that started diggin in the 60's...and they always told me, "we didn't get it all...most, but not all. Keep swinging." Well today I dug one they left behind. My 1st one and couldn't be more excited! It's a US cartridge box plate. A great day indeed! Thanks for looking and have a great evening. I'm gearing up for The Walking Dead...if I can stop looking at this.

View attachment 1282348

View attachment 1282349

View attachment 1282350

Nice find I've been hunting for 30 yes and still haven't found one not even a piece yet great find! Still lookin for mine

 

[CoilyGirl]

That's a great first plate and I wish you more in the future!

 

[TokenMan]

I refuse to believe that the old timer metal detectorists have found even close to everything.
It's still out there - and it probably will be for many hundreds of years to come.
Congrats on finding a great piece of US history!! So cool!

Thanks. yeah I know its out there. But the sites are becoming harder and harder to find. (without a neighborhood now on it)

 

[TokenMan]

Wow that's a beauty! People ask us why don't we sell our finds...

I'm sure you'll never let that plate leave the hands that became dirty, callus, dried out and cracked from 20 years searching.
Congrats

You got that right!!! Thanks!

 

[TokenMan]

Nice find I've been hunting for 30 yes and still haven't found one not even a piece yet great find! Still lookin for mine

Well...they are still there I bet you have some great spots in NC. Good luck!

 

[TokenMan]

That's a great first plate and I wish you more in the future!

Thanks! Me too (btw, your CSA is awesome)

 

[TokenMan]

Congrats on a great find

Thank you!

 

[Trezurehunter]

Congrats on your first plate. It is a beauty.

 

[TokenMan]

Congrats on your first plate. It is a beauty.

Thanks! I still stop and stare at it every time I walk by it

 

[smokeythecat]

I thought the plate days were over too. I dug one back about 1991, something like that. Just before hurricane Hugo, so whatever year that was it was the winter before. I still have it.

Dug my first breastplate January 2 of this year. Dug a CSA plate this past weekend. Somehow I think I'm done. Yours is a beauty. Some of the plates I've seen dug recently were plow damaged.

 

[Sooper Dave]

Incredible find! Congrats on your first plate, it's a beauty of one too! Well worth the wait.

 

[relic lover]

Congrats on that plate I am still looking for my first Civil War plate. I'll bet your face hurts from smiling

 

[parsonwalker]

That's a beautiful plate for sure. I never thought I'd find one. But last year I found three US buckles in 7 months. All different sites. which really surprised me. Found 2 in 8 days! Huge dry spell since then though . . . I agree that there is a LOT still out there, but I think the vast majority is too deep for current machines, or under driveways and parking lots, or under giant oaks. The question is not what is LEFT . . . but what is "findable" with current technology. When my Dad was hunting in the late 50s and early 60s with a GI mine detector, he knew the local park rangers (in the BATTLEFIELD parks!!). They didn't care as long as you covered your holes. They would walk over and look at what he'd found. Those guys understood a very simple principle - If it stays in the ground forever, it dissolves to dust eventually. OUT of the ground it can be preserved and appreciated for many generations.

My first buckle ever . . . found very deep in a trench.


My 2nd found 5 months later with remains of cartridge box and contents found with it . . . (No box plate though) This one was very deep, too.


My third found 8 days later - very shallow but masked by a bunch of barbed wire. . . but then all my luck ran out. Used it all up, I guess!

 

[CASPER-2]