Post A Picture(s) Of Your Best American Revolutionary War Era Find

[Michigan Badger]

What have you found?

Thanks,

Badger

 

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[DirtyMike]

Might be this if it ws idetified correctly.

 

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[hogge]

Dirty Mike, That might be a cross belt plate but I can't be sure. Have you tried to clean the patina off to see if it has any insignia or etchings on it? Tough to tell from here.

 

[DirtyMike]

Dirty Mike, That might be a cross belt plate but I can't be sure. Have you tried to clean the patina off to see if it has any insignia or etchings on it? Tough to tell from here.

No I have not cleaned it. But from what I can see there is no indication of anything on it. If it is a cross belt plate would there be something on it? And if so what?

 

[Don in SJ]

Ah a good rivival of an older post. I guess my best actual Rev War artifact is the Continental Army Light Dragoon button I found at the same site my KGI Indian Peace medal was found. Cast Lead button. I have a second one recovered from the site but almost impossible to make out the details.

Not sure about the Tudor Rose button and cufflinks, but perhaps they are British artifacts of the war.

Don

 

[Iron Patch]

Ah a good rivival of an older post. I guess my best actual Rev War artifact is the Continental Army Light Dragoon button I found at the same site my KGI Indian Peace medal was found. Cast Lead button. I have a second one recovered from the site but almost impossible to make out the details.

Not sure about the Tudor Rose button and cufflinks, but perhaps they are British artifacts of the war.

Don

Tudor rose on the left is a good button. Been waiting a long time to find one!

 

[Iron Patch]

These are some of mine.

Royal Provincials, Volunteers of Ireland (2nd American Regiment), New York Volunteers (3rd American Regiment) King's American Regiment (4th American Regiment), 21st Regiment of Foot (Royal North British Fuzileers), 42nd Regiment of Foot (Royal Highland Regiment - Black Watch), 54th Regiment of Foot, 71st Regiment of Foot (Fraser's Highlanders), 84th Regiment of Foot (Royal Highland Emigrants)

2nd Picture - Royal Provincials cartridge box plate.

 

[Woodland Detectors]

 

[jpitt1970]

recently re-found in my collection..dug it years ago in Manassas

 

[Broken knee]

here is mine
Broken Knee

 

[Gary66]

Dang all.

I live in a town that was owned by GW and you are all making me jealous.....haha

That's some great stuff!!

 

[MarkDz]

Great finds!
I've found a lot of musket balls, some coins, and a few odds 'n' ends that might qualify, but maybe my nicest verifiable Rev War-era military find is this.
It's a small stamped brass decoration made to look like an early eagle-head pommel sword grip. The style of sword would probably date to just after the Rev War... maybe 1812 era. Maybe some sort of medal part or veteran's pin?... any suggestions are welcome.

 

[cole1]

Found this a few years back in CT. Had it photographed and authenticated by Don Troiani himself. Found a bunch of other military buttons, but nothing quite as nice as this.

Not sure who appraised the other USA 1777 button, but my appraisal was no where near $25,000.... (less thatn 1/4 of that!)Lucky for me that Don Troiani lives here in CT and I could bring it to his house to check out.

 

[Steve in PA]

Here are a few of mine....

 

[slykatt13]

Might be this if it ws idetified correctly.

i seen this post on this plate. i have one that looks very similar but has initials ..ab..on it..also mine has 3 fastening points on the back.i live in a revolutionary war area.

 

[Steve in PA]

Might be this if it ws idetified correctly.

i seen this post on this plate. i have one that looks very similar but has initials ..ab..on it..also mine has 3 fastening points on the back.i live in a revolutionary war area.

Yours with three hooks is a military plate, probably a waist belt plate. Those with 6 hooks are luggage trunk plates.

 

[fieldslayer]

Fellow RW Enthusiacs - If I may, I would like to resolve a long time "pet peave" of mine I have been bothered by for some time , and would welcome any discussion, proof on this topic to settle it once and for all. I have been successfully hunting and researching rev war artifacts + attending relic shows since the late 1970's. I don't know how this assumtion arose, but so many classic looking plates such as shown in the previous post (correct size, clipped corners, etc.) have always been dismissed as "trunk plates" due to the presence of the studs on the back, even by some of the biggest authorities in the field. Aside from being an avid relic hunter, I have been in the antique business even longer. I have made it a sort of mission to find the evidence of this. To date, after seeing hundreds of examples of period trunks of all types, + consulting trunk experts and museums, I have yet to see one even similar example of such a brass attachment anywhere in my research. Also, is the GR example with studs in the Neumann and Kravic Encyclopedia book labled a cartridge box plate a mistake? By the numbers of these plates uncovered, it would be assumed that these were quite common on trunks. Where is the surviving trunk evidence This belief has been cliche for so many decades , that it apparently has never been questioned. I would welcome any commentary or proof otherwise, before anymore possible valid plates are dismissed.

 

[vonrall]

If you want to see some period engraved trunk plates you can start with several of General Washington’s campaign chests at Mount Vernon (one of which is even shown with a plate on it in the Neumann book page 182) .

This is sort of an impractical reverse argument, because you haven’t seen one of these so-called trunk plates at a flea market they must be belt plates. If you are convinced these trunk plates are beltplates, let’s see your proof, there should be plenty if that is the case. What indeed is the classic look of an 18th Century plate, I wasn’t aware there was a correct size, what would that be and what do you base that on? 18th Century plates don’t have clipped corners either, they are rounded, clipped corner types don’t come in until much later becoming most popular in the 19th Century. It’s pretty evident you are not familiar with beltplates or you would understand the huge difference. Belt and cartridgebox badges are quite rare, few have even handled a real one. If a soldier lost one it had to be replaced and it came out of his pay or the Colonel’s pocketbook, so they were quite careful about losing them.

I’ve collected them for over 40 years, studied original artwork showing them and examined (and even own) originals undug still attached to belts. Most of the beltplates fasten with a hook and a washer or stud arrangement, they are working belt buckles and are made of cast brass heavy enough to stand that kind of daily hard use. Shoulder belt plates in most cases are also a stud and hook arrangement as they must support a bayonet/swordbelt and be workable to fasten and unhook also. There are a few nonfunctional examples like the oval “GR” type shown in the Neumann book (which shows no trunk type plates as beltplates, I might add) . Cartridgebox badges usually have drilled wedges on the back, this is so a leather thong can be run through and they can be easily removed for polishing. In fact some British regiments were ordered to store them when they went on campaign to avoid the expense if any were lost.

In the British and Loyalist forces most of these bore the regimental number, crest or name, they were military insignia, not an individual’s name or initials, that would never have been allowed. They were an authorized emblem of the regiment, part of the uniform. The Hessians and Brunswicker’s insignia always bore the cipher of the ruler of that state, since the soldiers and all their equipment were his personal property.

There is a perfectly natural wish on the part of some relic hunters for their finds to be some more exciting then they really are, but they are what are, and nothing can change that. My book on Revolutionary War Buttons and Beltplates will be out this summer and I hope you will buy a copy. It will explain much on this topic.

BTW those large batwing buckles sold on ebay as colonial shoulder belt buckles are 19th Century harness buckles.

Fellow RW Enthusiacs - If I may, I would like to resolve a long time "pet peave" of mine I have been bothered by for some time , and would welcome any discussion, proof on this topic to settle it once and for all. I have been successfully hunting and researching rev war artifacts + attending relic shows since the late 1970's. I don't know how this assumtion arose, but so many classic looking plates such as shown in the previous post (correct size, clipped corners, etc.) have always been dismissed as "trunk plates" due to the presence of the studs on the back, even by some of the biggest authorities in the field. Aside from being an avid relic hunter, I have been in the antique business even longer. I have made it a sort of mission to find the evidence of this. To date, after seeing hundreds of examples of period trunks of all types, + consulting trunk experts and museums, I have yet to see one even similar example of such a brass attachment anywhere in my research. Also, is the GR example with studs in the Neumann and Kravic Encyclopedia book labled a cartridge box plate a mistake? By the numbers of these plates uncovered, it would be assumed that these were quite common on trunks. Where is the surviving trunk evidence This belief has been cliche for so many decades , that it apparently has never been questioned. I would welcome any commentary or proof otherwise, before anymore possible valid plates are dismissed.

 

[metaldetector101]

Here are a few of mine....

WOW HOW RARE IS THE GW CUFF? How much is something like that worth?

 

[ARMY MAN]

My best and oldest Revolutionary War Era Find. A 13 Star Continental Navy Button dug in Virginia 2011. Button eye is missing but some gold gilt is still present on the back. One of my best and favorite recoveries! I have not identified an exact match in Albert's. Any Ideas out there?

 

[Gilligan]

Say Badger, weren't you a real proponent of the Minelab GT?? What detector are you using now? Thanks, just curious.