Early 1800s Flat Button and 1 1/2 Musket Balls!

[FreeBirdTim]

Early 1800's Flat Button and 1 1/2 Musket Balls!

Slim pickings today, but I did find some keepers. The first keeper was an early 1800's flat button with "London" and "gilt" stamped on the back. Nothing on the front, but still a good find.

The other keepers were 1 1/2 musket balls! They appear to be around .58 caliber, but I'm not positive. I have no idea why one was cut in half, but I never did find the other half! Weird!

Here's some pics:

 

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[Ocean7]

hmmm nice old finds. Maybe the musket ball shattered when it hit a big buck, half lodged into bone and the other half flew back out or went right through? Ya just never know with these things just who(man or beast) was the target of the musket ball.

 

[MichiganMan]

Nice button [back].

 

[FreeBirdTim]

hmmm nice old finds. Maybe the musket ball shattered when it hit a big buck, half lodged into bone and the other half flew back out or went right through? Ya just never know with these things just who(man or beast) was the target of the musket ball.

Good theory! Maybe it split in half at the seam on impact? Could be a possibility...

 

[FreeBirdTim]

Nice button [back].

Thanks! I've found quite a few flat buttons, but they rarely have any design on the front. The backs are usually the interesting part of the button.

 

[vpnavy]

Nice finds! Thanks for sharing...

 

[ANTIQUARIAN]

Very nice finds Tim!
Any day you can find a flat button and a musket ball on a site is a good day!

Dave

 

[GatorBoy]

Any military history there?
Sometimes round balls were cut in half to make game pieces while camped out.
Probably done in hunting camps too.

 

[dirtlooter]

love the button

 

[BTV Digger]

Nice set of finds. Many possibilities on the musket ball half. Perhaps carved to form a simple game piece, esp. if there was military activity near or on the site. Soldiers often did this during down times.

John

 

[FreeBirdTim]

Yes, there is military history at this field. I know for a fact that this field was used to train the local troops during the Civil War. So it was probably used for many years before that for training troops, maybe even as far back as the Revolutionary War.

Of course, a lot of people know about this history and it's been detected to death. The local diggers roll their eyes when they see me in this field, but I'm still pulling out musket balls, buttons, wheaties and pre-1900 IHC's. No silver left, but that's okay. Still a fun place to detect.

 

[GatorBoy]

For sure.
Don't forget about the low tones pewter buttons come in very low

 

[FreeBirdTim]

Don't forget about the low tones pewter buttons come in very low

I wonder if pewter comes up in the jewelry mode? It should, but I'm not positive on that one. I've tried hunting there in all metal mode, but it's full of square nails and other more recent trash. This field is still used for concerts and other local events, so it has a ton of pull tabs, can slaw and foil. Takes a lot of patience to find the good stuff.

 

[GatorBoy]

You will miss a lot in jewelry mode those pewter buttons will probably come up as pull tabs or foil.
Your best bet is to never look at what that thing says and learn to tell the difference in the sounds... Keep it in all metal and get used to the racket you'll also find you'll get targets masked by iron that you can read swinging from one direction but not from another.
I love going to places that are full of iron and other trash that people only pick the high tones out of that read clearly there's usually lots more left

 

[GatorBoy]

You will miss a lot in jewelry mode those pewter buttons will probably come up as pull tabs or foil.
Your best bet is to never look at what that thing says and learn to tell the difference in the sounds... Keep it in all metal and get used to the racket you'll also find you'll get targets masked by iron that you can read swinging from one direction but not from another.
I love going to places that are full of iron and other trash that people only pick the high tones out of that read clearly there's usually lots more left

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Pay more attention to the depth also.. That will help you eliminate a lot of trash for more recent time.
Targets that are deep will ring up lower also after you dig a couple inches from the top swing again you'll get a higher reading often.

 

[FreeBirdTim]

GatorBoy, okay, I'll give it a shot. I'll ignore anything less than 4 inches and try all metal mode. It may drive me crazy, but it's worth it if I pull out an old pewter button.

 

[GatorBoy]

Haha! It will also force you to slow down I guarantee you'll wind up thanking me.

 

[GatorBoy]

I recently dug a barber dime that was real deep.. And probably on its side in the ground vertically it only came up somewhere around foil but I can tell by the even tone and the depth it was something worth digging.
Those Indian Head pennies will do the same