Devonrex
Sr. Member
- Joined
- Jan 6, 2012
- Messages
- 351
- Reaction score
- 1,260
- Golden Thread
- 4
- Location
- SE Virginia
- 🥇 Banner finds
- 4
- Detector(s) used
- XP DEUS, Nautilus DMC IIB
- Primary Interest:
- Metal Detecting
Wanted to post some pictures of some finds I made on my most recent outing. The martingale is my first and simply beautiful........silver plated brass with the hand carved letter "F". Many are saying this predates the Civil War, possibly as early as the Revolutionary War, but I found it in the same fire pit as all the other relics. I think it is an early martingale that may have seen action in both conflicts...........possibly later having the letter "F" carved in it for company F during the Peninsula Campaign. The 3 state buttons turned out to be a coat Massachusetts Volunteer Militia button and a coat Michigan button. The last coat button turned out to be a very rare militia button that is unidentified in Tice's reference source and unlisted in Albert's. It looks like a staff button but has the letters CG in the eagle's shield. The backmark reads "Horstmann & Allien N. Y." It has a full stand out shank as well. In the latest reference sources it is listed as Massachusetts Militia specifically Massachusetts City Guard. Many button experts are leaning towards this specifically the city of Boston. You can tell from the pictures it was in the fire pit. The bullseye canteen is fully intact also with a pewter spout. What an awesome day of digging! All of these were found in Southeastern Virginia using my Nautilus DMC IIb. This is what I posted the day I found these..............
Just got in from hitting a new home site which was also used as a Union Camp during the Peninsula Campaign. Found a beautiful canteen 2 feet down in the middle of the site......the first one I've found in many years. Around it was evidence of a fire pit with lots of other large iron readings and oyster shells. Didn't have time to dig it out but I will be going back this weekend! Around it I found a total of 6 buttons. 3 are state buttons and 3 look like eagle buttons. Then I got a whisper of a reading and dug down about 18 inches and out popped a beautiful silver plated martingale! On the front is the letter "F". I though the canteen was going to be the best find of the day and then I found this! Then I found the only coin of the day, an 1857 Flying Eagle Penny and right beside it was the arrow hook assembly of a US buckle! Around this time it was getting dark so I gave myself another 10 minutes. In that time I dug my only bullet - a 58 caliber mini and lastly a brass circular rosette. I can assure you there are many more relics left. What an awesome day of relic hunting! I will post an addendum later as to what the buttons are. HH John E. Harris aka Devonrex
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Just got in from hitting a new home site which was also used as a Union Camp during the Peninsula Campaign. Found a beautiful canteen 2 feet down in the middle of the site......the first one I've found in many years. Around it was evidence of a fire pit with lots of other large iron readings and oyster shells. Didn't have time to dig it out but I will be going back this weekend! Around it I found a total of 6 buttons. 3 are state buttons and 3 look like eagle buttons. Then I got a whisper of a reading and dug down about 18 inches and out popped a beautiful silver plated martingale! On the front is the letter "F". I though the canteen was going to be the best find of the day and then I found this! Then I found the only coin of the day, an 1857 Flying Eagle Penny and right beside it was the arrow hook assembly of a US buckle! Around this time it was getting dark so I gave myself another 10 minutes. In that time I dug my only bullet - a 58 caliber mini and lastly a brass circular rosette. I can assure you there are many more relics left. What an awesome day of relic hunting! I will post an addendum later as to what the buttons are. HH John E. Harris aka Devonrex
4 Attached Images
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