Surprise Breastplate!

[OutdoorAdv]

New pictures on page 2.

I think my morning just started off right! I was at a new permission house site dating to the late 1890's. My v3i was giving me a bouncing signal between 40 and 70 at 5 inches when this popped out of the ground at 12 inches and I decided it was time to take a lunch break!! I was very surprised and NOT expecting this... I was 90% sure I knew what it was based off the lead backing with iron spots of long gone hooks! Sadly, the target was one I would have normally passed over based on the bouncing vdi readings and the two pieces of trash I had just dug with similar readings, however I was just reading a lot about masking with signals so I decided to dig everything today. Glad I did. Lesson Learned.

This is the first type of plate I have ever found. I rinsed it with just water... no brush... just water! I could not identify it until some dirt was removed as you can see in the pictures below.
How can I remove the rest of the dirt without hurting any patina? Mineral Oil? Peroxide? Any suggestions on cleaning a plate like this would be much appreciated. I have never tried to clean something with brass and lead together and I don't want to screw it up! I don't care if it has to soak in oil for months! I also don't know anything about breastplates, so any help on an ID would be great!

Front as found.


Back as found.


Rinsed with water.



Toothpicked!

 

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[OutdoorAdv]

Beautiful breastplate, whatever you do DON'T unbend it LOL.

Thank you! If I end up getting it restored, I'll send it off for the unbending part! I would do better at breaking it than straightening it. Ha

 

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[JDug]

NICE SAVE

 

[Carolina Tom]

Very nice save. Congrats on a real piece of treasure! GL&HH.

 

[OutdoorAdv]

Thank you guys! I put together a box a few weeks ago to better display the plate, so its now hanging in my office with some other period finds. Another two favorites in the box I dug 15 years ago, are the Three Ringer and picture frame (some silver plating is still visible on the back). The significant thing about those two are that I found them both in the same hole on top of one another. The bullet is a dropped Washington Arsenal Star Base that has been chewed or carved on the bottom. I still think about the soldier that was sitting on the hill I found them on, with the picture and passing time chewing\carving the base of the bullet.

 

[CoilyGirl]

Congrats on such a beautiful first! Looks like your buckle will be perfect after having it restored. Correct me if I'm wrong folks here but I often put a light coating of olive oil on my brass finds after cleaning to bring out more detail and then wipe it off and let it dry.

 

[OutdoorAdv]

Thank you. A couple months ago I sent an email to one of the relic restoration experts in my area. I never heard back, so perhaps I had the wrong email address, or these breastplates might be much too common. While this plate is priceless to me, if I paid for a restoration, I am sure it would far exceed the value of the plate. I could probably buy a few plates in better condition, for the same cost. So I figured it was okay that I didn't hear back... its pretty beat up, but it displays well... if you get the lighting just right, squint one eye and look at it from an angle.

I have used a coating of olive oil on some relics before. I was concerned with this one that olive oil would darken the contrast between the brown background and raised eagle, so I just used Human Oil haha I rubbed the high relief of the eagle with some oil from my skin to make it stand out. I suppose I could have done the same thing with olive oil if I got a super light coating to only touch the raised part of the eagle.

 

[birdman]

Very nice, might be worth getting restored.

 

[metalev4]

Great find. Congrats on your first plate. I would dry brush the front only. In the future, I wouldnt even put water on brass, often changes the color. Dont over clean, looks great how it is.

 

[parsonwalker]

Great find. Congrats on your first plate. I would dry brush the front only. In the future, I wouldnt even put water on brass, often changes the color. Dont over clean, looks great how it is.

Agreed! Nice find, and I would never consider a CW plate "common" in 2014!

 

[markp]

nice

 

[OutdoorAdv]

Thanks everyone! It's definitely not a common find for me, I just meant common when it comes to restoration. The restoration before and after pictures are incredible and seem to be on more rare artifacts. Finding this was a huge surprise... I was expecting a large piece of iron junk at that depth. I couldn't believe it when this came out. I've dug 100's of similar holes on similar signals and finally got a good one.

Thank you all again!