Surprise 1872 Indian War belt buckle

tnt-hunter

Bronze Member
Apr 20, 2018
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Mountain Maryland
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Detector(s) used
Fisher CZ-21, Minelab Equinix 800, ,Garret AT Pro,
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I got an invitation from Scout parent to detect a property where they demolished an old theater recently. The contact was made before our trip to Florida and he said it would be OK to wait until we got back. The building was constructed in 1883 and was a theater for many years in the small community located about 3 miles from my home.

Today I took a look at the site and what a shock. The lot is only 50 feet wide and about 120 feet deep. Also, they dug the footers and laid the blocks for the foundation for the new building. That only left the dirt inside the foundation (mostly dirt from the deeply dug footers) or the outside of the footers. There was only a 3 foot wide space for me to Detect. I almost went home, but I said what the heck and went swingin.

It only took me an hour, swinging the CZ 21 to cover all the exposed area. There were very few targets of any kind, not even nails, which was a surprise. I did find a 1972 penny, a belt buckle, a brass cap, a toe tap, a broken marble, aluminum cans, some copper wire and four beaver tail can tabs.

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The cap looks like it came from an old cologne bottle. I’m not sure, of course, but I have seen bottles with a similar cap.

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The belt plate was under a bunch of gravel on the edge of the alley that runs beside the building site and is really crusty. It will take a lot of cleaning to make it look decent, but I think it is in pretty good shape under the crud for probably being driven over from any years. The info I found indicates it is an Indian war belt plate of the 1872 variety. This is the first for me. I’m thinking electrolysis for the clean up because the crud is stuck pretty tight. If anyone with more experience with brass belt plates has a better idea, please let me know. Your never too old to learn.

This is only my second belt plate in 21 years of detecting. It was quite a shock when I saw it out of the gravel. (I was expecting an aluminum lid or a whole can. I’m glad I dig the junk or it would still be in the ground.) :laughing7::laughing7::laughing7:

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With the holiday and shopping that is all the detecting I will get in this week. (WOW, a whole hour). Thanks for lookin, stay safe, good luck and may your coil lead you to good things.






 

Upvote 34
Go light on the electrolysis. Maybe a minute or so for each session and brush it lightly with a nylon brush between sessions. It should look like this when you're done. This is also a Model 1872. I also included some pics before I cleaned mine.
 

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Go light on the electrolysis. Maybe a minute or so for each session and brush it lightly with a nylon brush between sessions. It should look like this when you're done. This is also a Model 1872. I also included some pics before I cleaned mine.
Thanks for the advice. Yours looks really nice. I was planning on taking it slow because I know if you overdo it there is no going back. I used a wooden skewer to remove some of the chunks and get things started. I am away from home for family Thanksgiving and will get back to it next week when I have the time to work slowly.

Thanks again, stay safe, good luck and keep swingin.
 

Congrats on the recovery of the buckle best of luck on the restoration project.
Really it would be awesome if came out nearly as nice as Mason's
 

I got an invitation from Scout parent to detect a property where they demolished an old theater recently. The contact was made before our trip to Florida and he said it would be OK to wait until we got back. The building was constructed in 1883 and was a theater for many years in the small community located about 3 miles from my home.

Today I took a look at the site and what a shock. The lot is only 50 feet wide and about 120 feet deep. Also, they dug the footers and laid the blocks for the foundation for the new building. That only left the dirt inside the foundation (mostly dirt from the deeply dug footers) or the outside of the footers. There was only a 3 foot wide space for me to Detect. I almost went home, but I said what the heck and went swingin.

It only took me an hour, swinging the CZ 21 to cover all the exposed area. There were very few targets of any kind, not even nails, which was a surprise. I did find a 1972 penny, a belt buckle, a brass cap, a toe tap, a broken marble, aluminum cans, some copper wire and four beaver tail can tabs.

View attachment 2116439

The cap looks like it came from an old cologne bottle. I’m not sure, of course, but I have seen bottles with a similar cap.

View attachment 2116440

View attachment 2116441

The belt plate was under a bunch of gravel on the edge of the alley that runs beside the building site and is really crusty. It will take a lot of cleaning to make it look decent, but I think it is in pretty good shape under the crud for probably being driven over from any years. The info I found indicates it is an Indian war belt plate of the 1872 variety. This is the first for me. I’m thinking electrolysis for the clean up because the crud is stuck pretty tight. If anyone with more experience with brass belt plates has a better idea, please let me know. Your never too old to learn.

This is only my second belt plate in 21 years of detecting. It was quite a shock when I saw it out of the gravel. (I was expecting an aluminum lid or a whole can. I’m glad I dig the junk or it would still be in the ground.) :laughing7::laughing7::laughing7:

View attachment 2116442

View attachment 2116443

With the holiday and shopping that is all the detecting I will get in this week. (WOW, a whole hour). Thanks for lookin, stay safe, good luck and may your coil lead you to good things.
Very Cool!!! Congrats!!!
 

Congrat's on the Save of the belt plate. This is an early Christmas present. Nice Historical Save.
 

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