Very Rare 3rd Dragoons Texas Star Identified.

[john37115]

I found this 3D Star back in February of this year while searching a known Confederate Camp with my brother KirkTN and my buddies Donny & Arthur who were down from Canada. We all knew that it was a very special find when I found it. ( Video of Recovery Below ) I had posted the star when I found it and didn't get an ID so I recently re-posted it in the "What is it" section of this forum. I had also sent pictures of it to Charles Harris and Butch Holcombe of American Digger Magazine and he had sent a copy of my email to Howard Crouch author of books like Relic Hunter and Civil War Artifacts all three men authorities on Civil War relics. My friend Joe(TX) had told me all along this was related to the 3rd Dragoons Confederate Texas Rangers or possibly earlier 3rd Dragoons Republic of Texas Guards. Mr. Harris and Mr. Crouch agreed that this was in fact what I had found.
Joe(TX) tells me he had seen one recovered years ago by the late VanFossen of Houston Texas and that the find was Very Rare and VERY VALUABLE! Here is a copy of the email correspondence I had with Mr. Harris:

> Hi John & Butch,


No, this is not from a "3D" movie but from the 3rd Dragoons. The Dragoons were the predecessor of the Civil War era Cavalry. To my knowledge, the only items similar to this beautiful star have come from the True West of the era, mostly from Texas sites where the dragoons were highly active in the 1830-40's era. This is also where the Colt Patterson revolvers, the Colt Walker revolvers & of course, the famous Colt Dragoon revolvers really made their name in history. The Colt Dragoon revolvers were a scaled down version of the humongous Colt Walkers, but I guess that I'm getting off of the subject here.

This nice little star luckily has all the 3 attachment brackets on the back side, which appear to be small loops soldered to the back side. I'm not really sure if this item would have been attached to the hat or the coat, maybe one of our other readers can help out on this facet. I'm not finding it in Campbell & O'Donnells , American Military Headgear Insignia book, but I strongly suspect that it is used on one of the tall hats of the period & that it would have been mounted in the center of one of those large, but generic background plates. The "3D" probably stands for the 3rd Dragoons, Troop "D".

Oh, I just noticed that Butch forwarded a couple of Howard Crouch's comments about this plate to me. Here are Howard's comments: "Yes I have, very rare one, but with a different number and or letter. Third dragoons." & "The dragoons served almost entirely in the west. a lot of the rare stuff they had is scattered across thousands of miles of desert and woods."

A Great find.

Keep your powder dry,
Charlie Harris

Here's the youtube video made at the time of recovery:
<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value=" name="allowFullScreen" value="true">

It has taken 9 months to identify this find. I'd like to thank my friend Joe(TX), Charles Harris, Butch Holcombe, and Howard Crouch for their combined efforts in helping me put this mystery to rest. It just goes to show that often when there is little valid information available about an item it is a reflection of that items rarity.

[bigtim1973]

What an awesome find!!!!!! I imagine you felt on top of the world when you finally got her identified!!!!! Way to go, Tim

[BuckleBoy]

This is truly a Banner find.

[johnnyi]

Banner find!

[Ia.FurTrade]

Killer find!!!!!! BANNER!

[72cheyenne]

Nice. Glad to see it IDed.

Banner!!

[Kieth-Tx]

Sa-weeeeeet! Yep...banner!

[creeper71]

I rarely vote banner but did for this....

[john37115]

Thanks guys I really appreciate it.

[goldencoin]

Banner!

HH
-GC

[KirkTN]

He is my Brother yes, but that aside I without a doubt do believe this Outstanding little Rare piece of Civil War history deserves the banner. Bravo Bro! Way to stick with it on the research, the results are Impressive to say the least. I'm Proud of You!
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Banner Banner Banner

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[Mac232]

I remember when you posted this , I too am voting Banner , I,m happy that you got the item identified at last .

Mac

[Detectingfreak]

Very nice find! I am voting banner as well!

[john37115]

Here's a link to the original post.
http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.p...,218486.0.html

[jeff of pa]

Submit this to WESTERN & EASTERN TREASURES
BEST FINDS !!!!

http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.p...,256313.0.html

Congrats !

[john37115]

Wasn't it Larry H. that located that camp bought 20 years ago. LOL

[Joe(TX)]

.......What everyone does not know is that this Texas Star was identified because I started a thread on the Compass Forum.......BEST FINDS......John waited awhile and stated that he was having problems on deciding what was his BEST FIND(s).......As soon as I saw it I knew what it was a rare Texas Star......I knew that it was either Texas Confederate or possible Republic of Texas.......Due to a friendship with Van Fossen of Houston for over 25 years plus a lot of attendance to local Gun/Relic shows .........I have seen a lot of buttons and related Relics that had Texas ties to the Confederacy and even the Republic of Texas..............NEXT TIME JOHN......SHOW IT TO ME FIRST.......LOL.....it may save you 9 months ....................LOL AGAIN.......Joe

[allen]

that is one awesome relic !!