A good lesson...

[CrazySlasher]

A while back I was metal detecting an old site and I found a crumpled up piece of junk, or so I thought. I threw it in the trashbag with all the pulltabs, bottlecaps and can-slaw. I came home and hit the kitchen sink and started washing off all my clad and other goodies I had found and I saw this crumpled up piece of junk sticking out of the bag. I figured it was just a folded piece of tin or aluminum that you find a lot of here in the fields of MA. I decided to wash it off anyways and saw a bit of an image showing through the all the dirt. I figured at the point it was probably a makers mark or something from a piece of farm equipment that broke off years back. As I gingerly unfolded I realized I was looking at the Massachusetts State Seal. Needless to say I was pretty excited. After a couple days I had identified as a MA Militia Cap Plate circa 1825-1840.

I don't think it's my best, but it's definitely one of my favorites and I learned a good lesson. Always double check your finds!!

Here's a link to what it looks like in better shape:
http://www.civilwarpreservations.com...oryType=relics

[mainer]

Very good point. Man that thing would have been awsome if it were all there. Nice find.

[The Patriot]

very true... you don't know what you have until you get it home... I have a few boxes of junk that I have to go through when I first started detecting ..

[Iron Patch]

That's pretty typical dug condition for hat plates, shako badges etc., so you should be happy with it. Regardless of condition it still has the same history!

[Old Town]

Slasher, that's much better than that rotten iron crap you took home from the beach the other day.

Good to see you again.

Old Town

[CrazySlasher]

Slasher, that's much better than that rotten iron crap you took home from the beach the other day.

Good to see you again.

Old Town

It's sad that I can't bring myself to throw them out. I blame my father.

[Old Town]

Blame your father? Was he a Recession baby? The people today who lived through that are all hoarders of some kind. My parents could never throw things away. Always telling the sister and me about the bad times of the Recession.

OT