Todays old button (any idea on age?) and musket ball find.

[SeaninNH]

I've been reading here for a while and I've been learning from you guys. So I'll start with saying than you for sharing all yor expepirence with us new hunters.

Today I went out with my BH LandStar and hit an old cellar hole up here in NH that I found on an old 1904 map, but is gone on a map from 1940 and 1950.



I pulled up this button about 8" down. Sorry for no size reference, but it is a little smaller than a dime.
Anyone have any idea on what date this may be from?


It has a seam along the center of the stem and button on the back. There are no visible markings on either side.



I'm wondering if anyone has an idea of the age of this.

I also found what I believe to be an old musket ball (maybe?) along a rock wall behind the cellar hole. This was about 10" down. Musket ball is just a guess...


I'm sure you will see more from me in near future.

 

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[steelheadwill]

Greetings,
the background in your avatar pic looks mighty familiar,
I've dug a lot of the old cast lead/pewter buttons,
I believe they can date from 1600s- early 1800s,
I can't nail an exact date, even after the 2 piece buttons were being manufactured, people could make them at home out of neccessity.
Your musketballs? wish I could help, I have a bowlful I know nothing about
Best Digs to you!

 

[elee]

Hello Sean; Glad to see another NHboy on the forum! That looks like a prime cellar hole. I would keep working that one...there has got to be a bunch more finds still in the ground. Of course tonight's snow may delay things a bit! Your musket ball looks more like a chunk of iron to me...lead usually comes out of the ground with a white or cream colored oxidation...not the red/orange iron oxide that seems to cover your piece. Can you scrape a bit of the oxidation off and get a read on the base metal? You could also put together an electrolysis tank and remove the oxidation...instructions are in past posts on this forum. It is great for the numerous farm artifacts that NH hunters so frequently dig!
Keep hunting
Elee

 

[SeaninNH]

Thanks for the replies. I plan to cover every inch of that place. It's just tough in the snow lol.

I'll have to do that and get rid of the oxidation then repost a pic of it. It's pretty light for it's size.

I like the button. It just remids me that there was a time that people could not buy simple things.

I really hope that hole delivers.

I found another hole close to this one that is completely burried, but that one is hard to get to with this winter crust on the ground. I was walking around it detecting and I got a TON of signals that were all 10"+ deep.

Best to you all,
Sean

 

[NHBandit]

Good to see you NH guys are still getting out. I would think the ground would be frozen by now. We escaped to the gulf coast of Alabama for the winter but down here there are ALOT of places that are off limits including alot of the "public" parks & school yards. The beaches are spotless due to being raked daily & the cleanup they did after Katrina & the gulf oil spill. Looking forward to getting home in the Spring & hitting the 400 acre farm I got permission for just before we left. I hit it one time for an hour before heading south & found part of a sideplate from a Brown Bess musket. Like the others said, it's nice to see another NH face on here.

 

[Steve in PA]

Sean, that button indicates the site is quite early. Here are similar buttons found at 18th century sites in PA. You should be able to find some nice relics and coins at that cellar hole.

 

[SeaninNH]

Thanks for the input!

You'd actually be surprized, the ground is only hard for about an inch. Nothing a decent spade can't cut through with ease.

I'm going to hit this hole hard some time soon.

I really want to hit the other hole, but I have a feeling that I will be doing a LOT of digging so I want to let the ground thaw a bit.

It's not that bad to dig a few holes, but I don't want to be digging a lot of holes (I can't believe I said that) in this weather.

Lots more to come from me in the near future. I'm hooked and I love reading around this forum so I'll be happy to share my finds with you all!

-Sean

 

[Woodland Detectors]

Welcome Shaun,
I admire your desire to dig in the winter. As Steve mentioned, I believe your button to be "American Early" 18th century. I'll look forward to seeing what you uncover there.

Take care.

Mike

 

[Brian(upstateNY-Central Fla.)]

Sean you have a great few finds from the hole already,there will be more even if it has been hit before dig them signals up
Good luck and keep posting those pictures

 

[SeaninNH]

THAT'S MY BUTTON!! Thanks Crusader.

I went back today and ended up chasing what started as a really faing signal and ended up screaming at me from under it's protective rock.

I ended up with a hole about a foot and a half deep while moving small rocks and bowling ball size rocks out of the way. I had a hole about 2 ft wide(so I could get the rocks out) when I hit bricks! I cleared out a bunch of bricks and hit a BIG rock. The entire hole was this rock on the bottom. I was bummed... I wanted to dig out the entire cellar hole to get this damn rock out, but that will have to be another day when I can bring back help.

I did end up finding some metal banding and some sort if forged chain link and a small forged nail in the hole... I'll find that damn signal if it kills me.

 

[johnnyblaze]

Here is a cool 1 i found..Site dating back to the 1600's..
Hit that spot hard.
John

 

[SeaninNH]

This is the link I found under the brick layer that was under a layer of rocks that was about a foot down.
This seems a bit more modern to me than the button, but I don't know much about old stuff lol.

Anyone know when bricks started being used in old houses? I was surprised to see it. It was a really bright orange too.