Rare Find Today

[johnnyi]

I went back to the spot where I'd found the King William a few weeks ago, hopeing to find the last scraps I'd missed over the years. I kept with the small 5" coil due to all the iron, but boosted sensitivity up to an almost unbearable 26 this time around. All signals were poor and read iron by the numbers. This badly broken signal read a 1f c27 jumping back and forth to a 27f c50. Turns out there was a shotgun shell and iron in the hole.

This is a U.S. Navy buckle (tongue only with loop gone). It is very unlikely I would ever find the wreath, as besides pounding this site hard for so long, much dirt has been carted away and sold for fill, and what little ground that remains is becoming an unofficial dump.

The closest identity to this buckle is listed in Kerksis (page 73) where he describes this buckle having 13 stars (as does mine). Curiously he shows a picture of a similar buckle bearing 17 stars with a slight variance in the angle of the anchor flukes. He never describes that buckle, and any input on this point would be appreciated.

As it stands, the buckle he lists with 13 stars is rated as rarity 9, tied with the rarest of all Naval buckles, and tied with the rarest of all military buckles, Union or Confederate, that are not one of a kind.

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[Iron Patch]

Back at ya!

"Wow, first JimBeHunin's find today and now yours! The *stars* definately fell on you guys today. You have my vote also."

[Brian(upstateNY-Central Fla.)]

Thats a great find there,congrats

[Ia.FurTrade]

Love that buckle!!! I'd get that restored!
Banner find!
Dale

[Jimmy D]

Excellent find................WTG......

[cntrydncr1]

Excellent buckle!! congrats

[Detectingfreak]

Very nice buckle! Congrats

[romeo-1]

Stunning! In great condition as well!

[ironhorse]

you got it all age and condition!

great looking centre piece, awesome find!!

[Don in SJ]

Great find John, wish I knew more on buckles, but don't, so I must ask, era? War of 1812 plus or minus is what I would think with that type of eagle on the anchor(buttons).

Don

[johnnyi]

"you got it all age and condition!
great looking centre piece, awesome find!!"

Thanks all! It's funny, whenever I go on a long drive to a site I start envisioning some rarity that might be there (today it was a silver center cent which morphed into a Birch cent! Ha ha! ) On the way home I started envisioning the potential rarity of the buckle I was not familiar with. It blew me away when it actually turned out to be what I'd hoped.

[johnnyi]

"War of 1812 plus or minus is what I would think with that type of eagle on the anchor"

Thanks Don. The Buckle Kerksis lists of this design dates from around 1825. As there are only a few known, I don't know exactly how he arrives at that date, particularly, as you ponted out, the buttons of the same design (Albert's NA85) seem to date a little earlier.

[Kyle PA]

Killer buckle, Johnny!

[PBK]

[IronSpike]

Banner Buckle

[ziphius]

Banner! Holy cow.

[Don in SJ]

I just remembered that my USTE button was authorized by the government in April 1820 and the eagle design was the same as your buckle, so the buckle could most certainly be 1820s.

Don

[Neil in West Jersey]

Way to go on the buckle, Johnny!!!! It looks like it is in great shape. You have my vote!

I don't know the mechanics of those types of buckles, but it may be likely that the other portion is still around that spot!

[Swingit]

WOW, Thats A Nice Buckle
HH!!
Swingit

[hogge]

Great looking Buckle! Congrats on stellar relic!!!! Hogge