Early Colonial-Period Finds - 1600s Baldric Buckle Frag., Silver Dutch Coin, Buttons

Silver Tree Chaser

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Early Colonial-Period Finds - 1600's Baldric Buckle Frag., Silver Dutch Coin, Buttons

This is a catch-up post, as I haven't posted any of my more interesting finds over the past two months. I’ve got a good find from last week to post on the forum soon, but I wanted to cover some earlier recoveries. Please let me know of any suggestions or thoughts on identification of finds, especially if I'm mistaken. I confused a broken downspout bracket with a matchlock musket rest due to my wishful thinking several years back!!! :dontknow:

Here’s a rundown –

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This 17th Century soldier wears a wide baldric buckle for his sword. Baldrics were worn for carrying swords or trumpets.

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I believe I found a mid-to-late 17th Century baldric buckle. The center bar is too long for a shoe buckle, and it's far too big for a spur buckle. If it's a baldric, the broken condition is a bit of a let down - a bitter sweet find.

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Another 17th Century buckle fragment - horse harness - I found an exact match on a UK website. Plowing destroyed a lot of finds in this particular field.

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Jaw Harp & a cone or acorn knop spoon handle end. It appears that the spoon handle was possibly modified for use as a pipe tamper.

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There's not much left to this spoon bowl, but I like the decorative design which dates back to the 1600's - very unusual. It was found with the early buckle frags.

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Here is a complete specimen that I found online from an excavation at London Bridge.

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Here's a 1789 cut silver coin. It believe that it's a Dutch coin of low-grade silver - billon.

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Other side of the coin

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I got another early artillery button at this site. Almost everything posted here is from one site.

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Here's the best buttons from this site. Sorry - some of these was already shown a while back.

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This appears to be a very early pewter button.

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I like the gilt on this cufflink, but you have not seen anything yet!!!

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This is my first early fob seal holder. Too bad it's missing the seal. I even sifted the dirt for the seal, hoping to get lucky.

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Here's a growing pile of the remaining buttons, musket balls, etc. from a single field. It's quite a site, though it's not yet produced a single Spanish silver coin. I began working the site early in year, mostly the spring, but progress has slowed to a crawl due to very hard, dry soil. I'm up to 35 coppers at this one field. There's got to be some good silver coins out there somewhere.


Good Hunting to All
 

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Upvote 8

BuckleBoy

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Man, that is a killer stack of finds there! Congrats!
 

Silver Searcher

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Like Will said a great stack of finds :thumbsup: The Buckle is a half of a double loop buckle, and a early one, Very nice.:thumbsup: The coin is a Austrian Netherlands 14 Liards (billion as you say) struck in the name of emperor Joseph II.


UK Finds Database - - - UKDFD

SS
 

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Greylock

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Great finds. I really like that buckle. Very cool looking
 

Bubba65

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Those are some AWESOME finds and great history behind each one, Congrats and thanks for posting them :thumbsup:

Bubba65
 

Old Dude

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You gave perfect pictures and explanations of what we were looking at. Congrats on some wonderful finds. Any piece would be great alone, but the entire collection is amazing. Thanks for the details in your post. Good luck on the return trips.

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Vonclemen29

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Freakin awesome!! Congrats! I'd be calling that place, the field of dreams. Keep diggin
 

CMDiamonddawg

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C'mon now , Tree Chaser , :hello2:
you have to seem more excited about those oldies :icon_scratch:

these kind of hunt's may be a common occurrence for you ,

I have news for you ,

if I found an area with that quality of Early relics ,
I would be camping out on that place all weekend
rain or shine , bugs or NO bugs .
Can you give us interested readers a rundown of the 35 coppers ,
type , dates , some pics would be nice ,,

Thanks and yes , that's some serious diggin' in one site only .

CMDdawg
 

CASPER-2

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Aawesome-meter.jpg AWESOME SITE 12.jpg
 

Metal Magnet

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i think you need more coppers :tongue3:
 

Zodiacdiverdave

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That is one heck of a hual, congrats on some awesome finds.
ZDD
 

OP
OP
Silver Tree Chaser

Silver Tree Chaser

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C'mon now , Tree Chaser , :hello2:
you have to seem more excited about those oldies :icon_scratch:

these kind of hunt's may be a common occurrence for you ,

I have news for you ,

if I found an area with that quality of Early relics ,
I would be camping out on that place all weekend
rain or shine , bugs or NO bugs .
Can you give us interested readers a rundown of the 35 coppers ,
type , dates , some pics would be nice ,,

Thanks and yes , that's some serious diggin' in one site only .

CMDdawg

Here's some pics. of several other coins (coppers), though nearly all of them have very heavy corrosion - King William, King George I, a few King George II, Connecticut copper, a few early large cent with the fraction bar on the reverse, & later large cents.

A found one copper in exceptional condition. I posted it earlier in the year. It's a 1749 King George II copper. The ground conditions were much kinder to this coins. The coin is probably part of a shipment on board the H.M.S. Mermaid to Boston in 1750. It was a payment by King George II to the colonist for their support in the war effort against the French (capture of Fort Louisbourg in Nova Scotia). The coins, amounting to 800,000 halfpence coppers, were also sent to alleviate a coin shortage.

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The remaining coins are too worn-out to show.

6 English coppers
1 Halfpenny token - Success to Trade & Navigation
9 US large cents
8 too worn for identification

Sorry about the poker face with these finds. You can believe that I am very excited to be hunting this site. That excitement is what gets me up at 4:00 a.m., so that I can get in extra time to pound this field! You have to be excited and more so passionate to find the real old stuff.

Good Hunting
 

Yard Digger

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I like the looks of that growing pile of coins and relics. Keep it growing.:thumbsup:
 

CRUSADER

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Very nice collection of finds.:hello2:

I don't think the wide bar can rule out a shoe buckle, specially as there are so many sizes. Although I do believe it looks 17th C when the shoe buckles were much smaller than the 18th C types, so its unlikely to be a 17th C shoe buckle on that basis. Without some research I'm unfamilar with this type, I think you should keep looking for a match.

The bent over 'spoon handle' as you say, is actually a broken clothes/utensil hook that has been bent (after a break at the end) so as to still be functional as a hook. Similar to the one below:
UK Finds Database - - - UKDFD
 

Bill D. (VA)

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Jim - congrats on some outstanding research that put you onto that awesome early site. You're pulling some amazing things from the ground there, and hopefully this site will produce that much sought after silver tree coin that we're all desperately seeking. I'm fascinated with that design on the partial bowl from a 17th century trifid spoon. Love those buckles too. I found one very similar to the 2nd one shown in your pics about 5 years ago. It came from a mid-1600s trash pit at the site where I dug the 2 scattered caches of hammered silver coins. I was very fortunate to find the complete buckle including the tang which is a rare feat. I can't wait to see what else you can pull from this site. Best of luck to you ..... Bill

PS - have you tried looking for the trash pit at this site yet?

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