1789 "Long Live the King" Button found at a colonial cellar hole

Ridirtdigger

Greenie
Oct 28, 2014
19
97
South County, RI
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Garrett AT Pro
Garrett AT Gold
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I do not normally post on this forum but felt yesterdays find was important enough to share on here especially for those who do not know nor recognize me from Facebook or another forum. I plan to post on this forum much more from now on. Anyways yesterday I headed out into CT to do some cellar hole hunting with my buddy, Jarrod. Our first spot was a total dud, we never even made it out of our cars as the gate to the parking area was locked and we would have had to walk a mile just to get into the woods. We moved onto the second site which was also a total dud. The site was COVERED and I Mean COVERED with barberry, no swinging room at all, we knew there was a cellar there but we did not see it and needless to say we left that site pretty quickly. Our third site (and our last site) of the day was a nice cellar hole right on an old cart path that extended out from an old abandoned road. This site was not on any maps but was right next to an active hiking trail and easily visible. Because of this, the site had been hit pretty hard by others in the past. I saw an ox shoe lying on a downed tree right next to the cellar hole. Anyways we start swinging, bugs were brutal despite 40% DEET. A couple of horse flies chased me around but there were no yellow jackets so it was all good. About 50 feet away from the cellar hole I get a mid tone on my AT Pro bouncing between 50 and 70. About 6 inches down I pull out a nice big dandy button and notice it has writing on it. I call Jarrod over and wipe the button off on my shirt and then take another look at it. I read out "Long Live the... King". Jarrod let out a sigh of disappointment as he thought I was going to say "President". Despite our disappointment about it not be a GW (so we thought at the time) I had a feeling there was something special about this button so I put it in my bag alongside some dirt to keep it from flaking. We hit the site for about 30 minutes more scoring a few more buttons but by that time we had to get going. When I got home I posted the button on Facebook and realized I had an incredibly rare find, much rarer than the normal GW eagle with star button I found earlier this month at a virgin site. This button is a 1789 "Long Live the King" Button. Sources say it was made in Britain to celebrate King George III's successful recovery from a very serious illness. It also said these buttons are usually only found in places that were still loyal to the British Crown (Obviously in 1789 America was independent). I am not sure why this button was here in CT but I am not complaining. I also read that this button is considered a GW Button which would mean two GW's in one month for me! :happy3::happy3: Overall I am completely IMG_5837.JPG IMG_5835.JPG IMG_5838.JPG IMG_5839.JPG IMG_5856.JPG amazed by this find, a find of a lifetime for me for sure. Hopefully you can all get to know me better as I become more active on this forum. Until then, happy hunting everyone!
 

Upvote 31

skarmajunga

Full Member
Feb 25, 2009
155
126
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Fisher F75
XP Deus
Garrett AT Pro
Fisher CZ7A Pro
Awesome find
Live free or die
 

romeo-1

Gold Member
Jul 29, 2005
9,854
7,056
Romeotopia
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Welcome to the forum...looking forward to your posts! That is an outstanding find...I've never seen another like it. I wonder why it's considered a GW Inaugural button though...
 

Isaac

Hero Member
Oct 11, 2013
773
1,335
Fairfax, Virginia
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I still think it's related to George Washington himself, but that is a BEAUTY. What an awesome find Jim! That's THE GW button to find!!!
 

Worm-Slicer

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Jan 6, 2013
633
1,099
SouthwestVirginia
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According to georgewashingtoninauguralbuttons.com website, that button's slogan was believed to be the basis design for the GW inaugural button slogan. Great find and maybe the person that lost that was the person that came up with the GW slogan. Excellent find!
 

qaela4

Bronze Member
Jul 24, 2014
1,379
1,606
Keene, New Hampshire
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Bounty Hunter Quick Silver,Tesoro Silver Sabre uMax.
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Great button! The other stuff isn't too shabby either.
 

detectahead

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Dec 1, 2007
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Western, N.C.
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Enjoyed the write up and info gained! Excellent find and big congrats!
 

Scrappy

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Mar 6, 2014
9,204
14,019
17th century
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1789 "Long Live the King" Button found at a colonial cellar hole

I've looked at this all day and only now had the time to post. What a wonderfully rare, historic, and interesting button. It's different than the other GW's because it's ironic. I love it. IMHO not every GW should go banner - they're "common" enough that we see them monthly or so. However, this button I have not see before. Killer find, and banner worthy.

Welcome to the club

Congrats
 

Evolution

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Aug 2, 2007
5,278
2,481
Upstate NY
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That's a great find! It amazes me how many buttons are on that site that Johnny blaze attached. I'm always keeping an eye out for something on that site when I dig a button.
 

johnnyblaze

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Dec 20, 2010
3,208
1,749
Rhode Island
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Actually now that im taking a look at the higher resolution of the Cobb buttons it actually says it's a George III Button and one says Long Island with other writing under it..?
What you might have there is a Loyalist button even on the Stack's link it says it resembles a GW button..

~Blaze
 

Gridwalker306

Gold Member
Nov 10, 2010
6,012
7,406
Canada
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The button of all buttons, wow man that thing is killer.
 

can

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Dec 26, 2015
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NC
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very nice find
 

Iron Patch

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Sep 28, 2007
19,254
8,730
Dirtyville
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Great find! One of those would make my year. Definitely a banner find... maybe the first posted here.
 

Iron Patch

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Sep 28, 2007
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Dirtyville
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Welcome to the forum...looking forward to your posts! That is an outstanding find...I've never seen another like it. I wonder why it's considered a GW Inaugural button though...


It's not. GW associated at best. It only gets the recognition it does because the Cobb collection had one... and Cobb also has a British Royal Navy button, and it's clearly not a GW either. It's like mentioned, a George III button, and taken to America from Britain sometime during the revolution. That's at least my take, if I'm wrong I would like to be corrected. (I've owned 5 of these - both types)
 

Silver Searcher

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Sep 27, 2006
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That's only the second one I have seen, the other was on the UKFD data base, and the only one on there...100% banner find for sure.:thumbsup:

SS
 

Last edited:

jeff of pa

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Dec 19, 2003
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Interesting Button ! I knew Elvis was old !
Thanks for adding pics of your other finds also :thumbsup:
 

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