WOW just dug my first plate! Looking like Pre-CW Militia Eagle!

Stef45

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Jan 7, 2016
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Trying to post this before grad school again! I should be reading about government budgeting but I'm too excited (Sorry to those of you who love government budgeting haha) I'll post my finds this morning first then post my finds from the last time out.

We got a ton of rain yesterday down here in Charleston and the colonial site that VMI and I are always digging loves the cold. Every time it's cold and wet it seems like we find something good. Today I decided to start where we park and hit an area where there is a lot of aluminum trash so its hard digging. I got a really high tone and it was loud so immediately I think its a can. But i dug my Slave tag about 10 yards away so i knew to dig it anyway. The second I saw it I threw my gloves off and texted VMI a series of expletives...he replied "dude, what did you dig!" I sent him a pic of the plate and he replied with worse expletives than I had originally sent him. He needs to find Jesus clearly. With Steve's plate so fresh in my memory I knew what I had was special. I don't think it is as old as his but we are thinking 1840's 1850's. I have been trying to find another example of it and found one dug down in SC as well which leads me to believe it was a South Carolina Militia plate, but I do have feelers out trying to narrow it down further. Its bent but its a beauty. Im guessing I could send it to someone to fix? not sure. But my FIRST plate!

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Here is the rest of what I found today. I found a coin/token that came in low but looks like an old copper that has been worn pretty bad. There is writing around the edge the letters i can make out thus far are "OLUSE" can also almost make out some kind of design at the bottom of the coin. I keep seeing two busts like a William and Mary but its probably just my eyes playing tricks.

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I also pulled a little underwear button. Not sure how old these are. A tiny piece of porcelain but luckily it had the crest on the back which I think is the British motto and crest not sure what that tells us other than its british. Found a big ole turn of the century spoon. And a broken piece of a buckle and a brass whatzit.

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Here are the finds from last weekend. First good signal was surrounded by poison oak/summac/ivy of course but it was a screamer. This is the biggest dandy and nicest dandy I've ever dug. Pretty happy with how it cleaned up with some alum.jelly as well. The gold gilt is more of a rose gold which is unusual from what I usually see. Dug some other buttons with flower designs and a tombac. The oval brass is a turn of the century brooch and I found the 1918 wheatie in the same hole. Cool piece of porcelain with what looks like "MARYLAND" on it. And the typical shell/feather edge.

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As always thanks for looking and good luck out there! Also for all my fellow Irish, have a great St. Paddy's, Sláinte!

UPDATE: After reaching out to some other detectorist they pointed me in the right direction and gave me a website that had the same design as my plate. Looking like 1832-1836 with the arrows pointing down. Seems like this plate would have belonged to a local militia and not state or fed. http://www.metaldetectingworld.com/05_finds_beltplate.shtml
 

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Upvote 52
The plate and button are both stunning. Really incredible finds. A dry tooth brush on that plate ought to be plenty for cleaning
 

Wow, love all the finds, but that belt plate is bad A**.
Awesome group of finds.
 

Thanks man, i'm still shook. Thought i had the date narrowed down but turns out i was off in a good way!

Certainly so! Although my initial guess would have been the exact date range that you were originally thinking. Killer find Nick!
 

The plate is awesome and the button with designs very unusual. I like the spoon too! Great job!
 

Congrats on an exceptional find. It will look good next tot he slave tag!

Best of luck to you sir.
 

Fantastic plate man :occasion14: That's an early one and in great condition. You got my vote on that thing. At my main site there was a 20x20 foot area adjacent to the hotspot that I had been avoiding for a while because the mower ran over a huge piece of aluminum and it sprayed slaw all over the place. Finally one day I decided it was time to clean it all up and was rewarded with a mess of finds.... but nothing nearly as nice as what you found. It sounds like your trash area is definitely worth cleaning up some more. Awesome hunt!
 

Congrats on the plate and the sweet dandy button. If you plan to straighten the plate, I would use a known relic restorer like Roland Frodigh or Robert McDaniel.
 

Awesome find bro!!! A plate of any kind is high on my wish list. Huge congrats and hope y'all recover many more treasures from that site!
 

That's a killer piece! You had a super hunt. You've got my vote Congrats
 

The plate and button are both stunning. Really incredible finds. A dry tooth brush on that plate ought to be plenty for cleaning

Thank you! Yeah all I've done is dry brush and some tooth picking. Do not want to mess anything up!

Wow, love all the finds, but that belt plate is bad A**.
Awesome group of finds.


Thank you thank you!
 

Congrats on an exceptional find. It will look good next tot he slave tag!

Best of luck to you sir.

Thanks Tom. The only problem is its bent so it won't fit in my displays. Guess i'll just have to find a flat one now! lol Always looking for more!
 

Fantastic plate man :occasion14: That's an early one and in great condition. You got my vote on that thing. At my main site there was a 20x20 foot area adjacent to the hotspot that I had been avoiding for a while because the mower ran over a huge piece of aluminum and it sprayed slaw all over the place. Finally one day I decided it was time to clean it all up and was rewarded with a mess of finds.... but nothing nearly as nice as what you found. It sounds like your trash area is definitely worth cleaning up some more. Awesome hunt!

Thank you sir! Yeah both VMI and myself have been around that area but never really focused and put the hard work into clearing it. Glad we started to that for sure.
 

Congrats on the plate and the sweet dandy button. If you plan to straighten the plate, I would use a known relic restorer like Roland Frodigh or Robert McDaniel.


Thanks Steve. Yeah it might be worth looking into. not sure how they bend these back but it seems like (from the ones I've seen) they do a good job.
 

Awesome find bro!!! A plate of any kind is high on my wish list. Huge congrats and hope y'all recover many more treasures from that site!

Thank you Darby. This site keeps proving that there is always more treasure to be found. Just when we think its dead it blows up again. Its pretty fun.

That's a killer piece! You had a super hunt. You've got my vote Congrats

Thank you sir! Appreciate it
 

Fantastic plate man :occasion14: That's an early one and in great condition. You got my vote on that thing. At my main site there was a 20x20 foot area adjacent to the hotspot that I had been avoiding for a while because the mower ran over a huge piece of aluminum and it sprayed slaw all over the place. Finally one day I decided it was time to clean it all up and was rewarded with a mess of finds.... but nothing nearly as nice as what you found. It sounds like your trash area is definitely worth cleaning up some more. Awesome hunt!

My thoughts exactly.
Congratulations on a Sweet Old find. & Man y'all got one heck of a site going on.
Davers
 

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