🥇 BANNER Yesterdays productive hunt yields rare rattlesnake and stars button plus much more

Bill D. (VA)

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Location
SE Virginia
🥇 Banner finds
6
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2
Detector(s) used
F75 SE (land); CZ-21 (saltwater)
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Other
Yesterday's productive hunt yields rare rattlesnake and stars button plus much more

It's been a very slow January for me as I've only managed to get in about 4-5 hunts which is a sad excuse for someone who's retired and can hunt every day. But my buddy Dan and I finally made it back out yesterday, and we had to brave the frigid low 20s, a biting wind and frozen ground to get in a little swinging. We returned to the spot where we found a 17th century house site in a logged area not long ago. But the finds there were sparse to say the least, so we decided to give the adjacent field another shot. In an earlier hunt, we had found what initially appeared to be a 19th century site on the far side of the field, and that's where I recovered that cool mid-1800s merchant token posted previously. But before we had left that day we started finding a few random, and earlier, targets adjacent to the house site that extended into an unassuming low spot in the middle of the field. Plus we had seen a little brick and heard some iron chirps, so we decided it was worth the effort to give that spot a more thorough look. And it was a good thing we did as we were able to spend the whole day steadily digging targets. Although the colonial coins eluded us yet again, I was quite happy with a 20 button day. And one of them turned out to be a seldom seen patriotic rattlesnake and stars button. That was a first for me, and I've been told these are quite rare. I also dug a solid silver button (oval-shaped) along with a number of other colonial buttons, an early knee buckle, a partially tinned 17th century trifed spoon handle, several lead and pewter musketballs, a cool turn-of-the century gilted locket, and other interesting items. Dan also dug a ton of relics which I'm sure he'll be posting later. Toward the end of the day we expanded our search area and were still hitting on a few random keepers, so we definitely need to make another trip at some point. But we need to refocus on getting into some productive, new sites, and its just a matter of knocking on some doors and catching folks at home. Hopefully we can make that happen soon. Had a fun day Dan - looking forward to next time.
 

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Upvote 52
Awesome relics! Congrats!
Glad you were able to get out and dig!
 

I had fun as always Bill....man that is a killer button. For those that do not know, that is not an easy one to come by, no sir. I have seen more George Washington buttons dug than these bad boys and it will likely be Bill's best button find of the year and for a long time. BANNER for sure!
 

Great assortment of buttons Bill. I know I've seen these buttons occasionally pop up on here but what's the significance of them? Was there one producer of them? How rare is rare?

Why do the trefid spoons always break in the same spot, haha?
 

Great assortment of buttons Bill. I know I've seen these buttons occasionally pop up on here but what's the significance of them? Was there one producer of them? How rare is rare?

Why do the trefid spoons always break in the same spot, haha?

There's not much known. Either patriotic or political and thought to have been made by the French, but now that changed to Spanish, and found at early American sites.
 

WTG on a find of a lifetime! That is one awesome button!
 

Great button Bill as well as a nice assortment of other finds! I know not much is known about these but what do they date to?
 

Great assortment of buttons Bill. I know I've seen these buttons occasionally pop up on here but what's the significance of them? Was there one producer of them? How rare is rare?

Why do the trefid spoons always break in the same spot, haha?

Joey, they were French produced, though also other variants made in other locals, including the colonies. They were initially representative of the early discussions of a unified colony (13 colonies as one). They took traction after the Mass. Provincial Congress was established. They are patriotic and show up in early home sites and some Rev War camps. Rare for me is how often I personally have dug them and personally seen dug.

I have never found one of these and only see one other dug. I have seen them posted and found from time to time, but less then I do GW buttons. The books might place them lower in rarity for some reason, though I believe them to be rare, more so than most CS buttons and even intertwined USA buttons...you just don't simply see them dug that often.
 

Awesome button! What a great find. My banner vote is in IMO better than any coin.
 

Banner for rare rattlesnake star button in excellent condition
 

Bill a very productive day on an iffy site turned up a Banner find IMHO, my vote is in for the Rattlesnake and Stars button, the rest of your finds are not to be ignored, very nice haul if I do say so myself!!!!
 

Just voted banner also for the rattlesnake button! Congrats again!
 

Congratulations on a great hunt Bill. That Rattlesnake and Stars button is one of my all time favorites. I first became aware of that button in 1992 when I read about one being found in Howard Crouch's "Relic Hunter". If you have the book, it's mentioned in the chapter called "An Interlude in Time". I remember thinking what a cool button that would be to find! Well, six years later I found my first. Ten years after that I found my second. Shortly after that I got the tattoo :laughing7:

Welcome to the club :occasion14: I'm voting BANNER.
 

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Congratulations of a great hunt Bill. That Rattlesnake and Stars button is one of my all time favorites. I first became aware of that button in 1992 when I read about one being found in Howard Crouch's "Relic Hunter". If you have the book, it's mentioned in the chapter called "An Interlude in Time". I remember thinking what a cool button that would be to find! Well, six years later I found my first. Ten years after that I found my second. Shortly after that I got the tattoo :laughing7:

Welcome to the club :occasion14: I'm voting BANNER.

Wow..Hey Steve that one in the second pic cleaned up nice..still has guilding on it..lol.
 

Bill, those are a lot of good finds & a GREAT button. Congrats, Q.
 

Looks like the wait was worth it. That is a really nice group of finds. Congrats to you
 

Do you know what the lead piece with hole in middle is? I've found several, never heard what they are.
 

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