Nice button Tinpan! also extremely tough to dig. Actually for whatever reason, a lot of early US Navy buttons turn up in Gold Camps which is what you have, circa 1840's. I have been assembling a California Gold Rush dug button collection and I believe it is probably the largest, and if not the largest, the most advanced. The US navy button turns up more than other branch of service and general service buttons in true 1850's camps.
The CA cold rush is more significant than most of the public understand. My main two focus groups are the CA gold rush and the American Civil War. When I discuss the importance of CA gold if generally falls of deaf ears. but just to clarify and speaking from memory on research I was doing here are some basics:
More gold was pumped out of the CA gold fields in the first 7 years, then all gold found in the previous 200 years worldwide.
Gold was so important to the US economy, that when the SS Central America sank in 1857, it contributed to a recession for that time period.
Gold financed the war for the Union during the American Civil War.
The Confederacy partially recognized gold's importance in that they tried to invade and take CA. (Made it as far west as AZ)
Another enterprising Confederate Naval officer (who worked in the gold rush) tried to buy and arm a schooner and raid California shipping for gold. (He was the only CS officer held in Alcatraz for the war)
Most people remember the severe inflation suffered by the Confederacy during the war. Without CA gold, the US government would have likely suffered serious problems with currency.
Actually, arguably the farthest western shot fired in the Civil War was fired in CA. And it was in response to Confederate guerillas robbing gold from stage coaches.
California in the 1850's and 60's is nothing like it today. Like it or not, CA gold helped solidify the US with real buying power and greatly helped finance the American Civil War.
So again, congrats on some super historic finds. Good luck finding the wreath, I really hope you can find it as it most assuredly will have the same gorgeous patina.
It always bums me out when people don't see the beauty of these relics. Seems like people just love the coins. They made a hell of a lot of coins but how often do you see something like this buckle? Stupid Americans lol
True words indeed Ahab8!
For more than a decade I have chased one of these rare buckles with coil and shovel. Have never turned one up, nor seen one dug by an associate on any ground we have searched. For those dedicated diggers I know, gold coins turn up more frequently! Probably an average of 10 or more gold coins are dug to every buckle like this cast brass Gold Miner that we see here!
I too have covered many sites looking for this elusive buckle. Granted, I have been rewarded with other buckle parts on my quests including the wreath for the other sought after buckle the "Eureka Buckle" or California State Seal Buckle. I finally resorted to trading a brand new White's MXT for another fine example of the miner tongue found by a fellow TNet member. I then purchased the wreath from a fellow collector and friend of mine. The attached pic. is the result and marriage of the two!
The buckle you found Tinpan is definitely worthy of a banner vote and you have mine! They are that rare...and to find it in Australia screams of some serious history that buckle is trying to tell!! If you are interested in parting with it, I found a dandy Cricket buckle in a western mining camp here in the U.S. that I would be willing to part with along with some $$$!! I attached a pic. of it also.
Again, nice find and I wish you more success on your future digs!!!!!!!
I'm glad there's people on here that can explain just how rare and special this piece really is. When gold coins come out of the ground much more commonly than this buckle, well that really tells the story. It belongs up top and I'm putting in my vote. But as I've said in the past a Banner find is a banner find regardless if it's recognized or not. The fact that you have found this special piece does not need votes to reaffirm how amazing a piece of history it is
"Life which is lived without zest and adventure-is not life at all."
-F.A. Mitchell-Hedges, British Explorer
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Hi All For nearly 10 years i have posted facts about americans who played a major part in The Australian Federation Push of the late 1890,s
Thomas James Connelly Born in New York State in 1820's went to the California gold rush and came to Australia around 1853 , Gold miner and iron munger Settled in the gold mining town of Sandhurst [Bendigo today] Son Thomas Jefferson Connelly born in 1853 Lawyer , President of the Australian Natives Ass. Mayor of the city of Sandhurst 1887 . Friend to Sir John Quick and latter to be the 2nd Prime Minister of Australia John Deakin.
Google Thomas Jefferson Connelly and click on the the Bendigo Cemetery trust link
This buckle doesn't have any connection to these people but does it . Funny british name lol Many great men some how get forgotten . Your history , my history all things connect.
Please give time to consider what i mit do with buckle . I have never been about money . Would make great story for East and West Mag. I don,t have the skill to organize such things . America History returns home after 161 years. Sound mighty cool to me.
The two greatest rushes this world has witnessed to find golden wealth buried beneath the ground, were sparked in California in 1848 and then in Australia in 1851. The histories of these events are infinitely interwoven with Australians traveling to America in search of gold, and Americans in turn traveling to Australia seeking their fortune. This belt buckle find here featuring a miner digging for gold, dates from the earliest days of the two Gold Rush events. The wonderful find bears testament to the historic connection of America's Gold Rush and Australia's Gold Rush.
Edward Hammond Hargraves (1816-1891) was an Australian goldfields publicist whose astute assessment of reports of gold discoveries in New South Wales played a part in the first Australian gold rush, in 1851.
Until recently Edward Hargraves had an undeserved reputation as the first discoverer of gold in Australia and consequently held an unduly high place in popular histories of the country, for the extensive gold rushes of the 1850s in both New South Wales and Victoria had important effects on economic and social changes in 19th-century Australia and some effect on international trade and monetary development.
Hargraves was born on Oct. 7, 1816, at Gosport, Hampshire, England, the son of an army officer. He joined the merchant marine and arrived in Sydney, New South Wales, in 1832. After working the land near Bathurst, in 1833 he sought bêche-de-mer in Torres Strait and returned to England.
The following year Hargraves returned to Bathurst as property overseer and familiarized himself with the country on which gold was later found. In 1836 in Sydney he married Eliza Mackie and settled in the Illawarra District. For the next 12 years he tried without success to make a living in the hotel trade and in cattle raising on the central coast of New South Wales.
Hearing of the California gold rush, Hargraves sailed for America in 1849. He found no gold and failed as a goldfields trader but did discuss with men who knew the western districts of New South Wales the strong likelihood of gold being discovered there because of similarities with the California fields. He returned to Sydney in January 1851 determined to test his opinions, chiefly in order to establish a claim for a government reward for the discovery of payable gold.
Appointed a commissioner of crown lands, Hargraves went to the Bathurst area in February 1851 during an unusually dry summer and found only minute quantities of gold in Lewis Ponds Creek, but he taught other prospectors to construct and use the wooden cradle and dish and encouraged them to persevere, especially John Lister and James and William Tom. Back in Sydney in March, Hargraves continued his pressure for a reward after he had heard of the discovery of 4 ounces of gold. By May he had returned to the Bathurst fields, which were now attracting numerous diggers. He named the richest area Ophir, where rain had revealed the presence of considerable alluvial gold, and presided over Australia's first gold rush.
Hargraves later received £10, 000 for his trouble and in 1877 was granted a pension of £250. He also received £2, 381 from the government of Victoria. In 1890 a New South Wales parliamentary committee decided that "Messrs. Tom and Lister were undoubtedly the first discovered of gold in Australia in payable quantities." Hargraves died in Sydney on Oct. 29, 1891.
CC Hunter
Last edited by CC Hunter; Jun 10, 2014 at 12:04 PM.
Reason: Photo Added
Fantastic find Tinpan, and even more so since it was found in Australia. I have great respect for the Gold Rush experts that have been commenting on your thread. I have heard of this buckle before, but really didn't know just how rare it was until I read the comments from CC Hunter, Danimal03, Ironman and others. You are doing a great job saving history down under! My vote is in
Well done on the banner Tinny Thanks also to CC Hunter, Danimal03 for providing great information on this well deserved Banner Buckle, I think it helped a lot in getting it up to the top.
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