1600's French Jesuit Medals ~ Best Fines for 2009

[bobsphotogallery]

For your viewing pleasure ..2 Jesuit medals from the 1600's ... Michigan Found

[bobsphotogallery]

Nice finds, they cleaned up real nice! can I ask if you found them around a lake or a river?

On a hill side near a small lake .... and not to far from lake Michigan

[RELICDUDE07]

Bob you always find the good stuff Thanks for the pictures!!!!!!!!

[pepperj]

Those are some real sweet looking finds. Love the patina on them, soil was really kind.

[romeo-1]

Nice finds. I would love to find a find like that. I have yet to find a find relating to the trades.

[Iron Patch]

Some amazing condition!

What's the story on your avatar? Did you find that?

[bobsphotogallery]

Some amazing condition!

What's the story on your avatar? Did you find that?

Yes I did ... you can see most of my finds at http://www.bobsphotogallery.com/gallery2/v/FurTrade/
Best Regards
Bob

[HCW]

Im not trying to be
a pain in the #@! here but how does this date to the 1600's?
Pleasde let me know.

[bobsphotogallery]

Im not trying to be
a pain in the #@! here but how does this date to the 1600's?
Pleasde let me know.

Now here is a one line question that could take a books worth of text to answer … nut I will try to keep it short … ]
The time frame of most items like this one can be narrowed down by a number of factors … location, written history from more than one source , and the items found in close proximity to this item as well as intuition.

In the case of this Jesuit Medal … it was found near St.Ignace MI .. books as well as the native oral history tell us the French military and Jesuit order had a trading post and fort there and 3 missions . Along with a number of Indian villages from 1671 until 1699 and it was one of the major hubs of the fur trade. After that they moved to Mackinaw city .. then down to Detroit then to return to Mackinaw then the British got involved .. and the story goes on until the end of the fur trading.

The medal was found with other items of the 1600’s all being French one being a Jesuit ring …

The rings as well as the types of metals you find on a site can really help you get and idea of the age of the artifacts…. From my experience 1600’s sites have copper, brass, iron, lead and some pewter..and almost no silver .. from the mid 1700’s on silver took off in a big way, as you see a decline in the use of copper mostly for the use of ornamentation.

The rings have a definite trend on the time line as you can see on my photo website at :
http://www.bobsphotogallery.com/gall...urTrade/rings/

By my experience 95% of the fur trade camp sites in this area are from the 1600’s. It is an odd day to find a 17 or 1800’s site.
Also it helps to have an area that has not been used by other segments of the time line .

In closing I will also mention this medal is in a number of reference books dating it ,

Best Regards
Bob

[Iron Patch]

Bob, back to the button, I'm curious if it was found in the context of a trade site?

I checked out your page. Very impressive! We have lots of old sites to hunt in my area but unfortunately next to nothing for trade. That said, I know who I will visit if I make it to the Great Lakes.

[bobsphotogallery]

Bob, back to the button, I'm curious if it was found in the context of a trade site?

I checked out your page. Very impressive! We have lots of old sites to hunt in my area but unfortunately next to nothing for trade. That said, I know who I will visit if I make it to the Great Lakes.

Yes the USA Rev War button was found on a late 1700's fur trade camp site.. we fine a number of Rev war as well as war of 1812 relics on the trade sites depending on age of the site. One day deep in the woods I came up with a civil war scabbard.... I wish I knew the story on that one. Michigan is not well known for finding any civil war artifacts.
Regards
Bob

[Iron Patch]

Bob, back to the button, I'm curious if it was found in the context of a trade site?

I checked out your page. Very impressive! We have lots of old sites to hunt in my area but unfortunately next to nothing for trade. That said, I know who I will visit if I make it to the Great Lakes.

Yes the USA Rev War button was found on a late 1700's fur trade camp site.. we fine a number of Rev war as well as war of 1812 relics on the trade sites depending on age of the site. One day deep in the woods I came up with a civil war scabbard.... I wish I knew the story on that one. Michigan is not well known for finding any civil war artifacts.
Regards
Bob

In the future you should post those early relics. Some of those Rev War items can put a pretty good $mile on ones face. I have seen quite a few 1812 buttons turn up in MI. It's a bit different, but like my area, you have a great variety which will always keep it unpredictable and interesting.

[HCW]

Im not trying to be
a pain in the #@! here but how does this date to the 1600's?
Pleasde let me know.

Now here is a one line question that could take a books worth of text to answer … nut I will try to keep it short … ]
The time frame of most items like this one can be narrowed down by a number of factors … location, written history from more than one source , and the items found in close proximity to this item as well as intuition.

In the case of this Jesuit Medal … it was found near St.Ignace MI .. books as well as the native oral history tell us the French military and Jesuit order had a trading post and fort there and 3 missions . Along with a number of Indian villages from 1671 until 1699 and it was one of the major hubs of the fur trade. After that they moved to Mackinaw city .. then down to Detroit then to return to Mackinaw then the British got involved .. and the story goes on until the end of the fur trading.

The medal was found with other items of the 1600’s all being French one being a Jesuit ring …

The rings as well as the types of metals you find on a site can really help you get and idea of the age of the artifacts…. From my experience 1600’s sites have copper, brass, iron, lead and some pewter..and almost no silver .. from the mid 1700’s on silver took off in a big way, as you see a decline in the use of copper mostly for the use of ornamentation.

The rings have a definite trend on the time line as you can see on my photo website at :
http://www.bobsphotogallery.com/gall...urTrade/rings/

By my experience 95% of the fur trade camp sites in this area are from the 1600’s. It is an odd day to find a 17 or 1800’s site.
Also it helps to have an area that has not been used by other segments of the time line .

In closing I will also mention this medal is in a number of reference books dating it ,

Best Regards
Bob

Cool, thanks for the info.