🥇 BANNER Bucket lister-British trade musket serpent sideplate

Relicific

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Closed out my 2017 hunts last week and man did I feel luckier than a lucky penny
when I pulled this intact British trade musket serpent sideplate out of the ground.
I've seen other examples posted online,but they were mostly broken off pieces.
Intact side plates are very rare cause first off these british muskets were notorious
for exploding barrels and so the sideplate would be destroyed in the process.
Also some Native tribes would "ritualistically" kill the serpent by breaking it into pieces
and burying it.
Beginning in 1690 English gun makers used decorative sideplates in place of loops
and scrolls and by the mid 1700's serpent sideplates were standard on British trade guns.
These serpent/dragon sideplates became a very important symbol of the fur trade.
For the Native,it came to mean they were getting the genuine article when they traded
the twenty or so beaver pelts it took to get a trade gun.
The snake was also spiritually significant for hunters and ensured fruitful hunting.
Indians had come to expect the trade gun had this serpent on it.
No snake,no deal.
Traders then obviously insisted upon it too.
Trade guns sporting these sideplates were also know as Northwest or Mackinaw guns.
I've added a before and after cleaning photos.
 

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Last edited:
Upvote 99

Ahab8

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Things like this need to go up top! Amazing..

Yeah how many of these ha e we seen or will we ever see again? Yo get that in one piece is like winning the lottery. There’s s certain copper coin as well that should be going up
 

Iron Patch

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Yeah how many of these ha e we seen or will we ever see again? Yo get that in one piece is like winning the lottery. There’s s certain copper coin as well that should be going up


So are you saying like... super super super BANNER BANNER?
 

Ahab8

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So are you saying like... super super super BANNER BANNER?

Never! I would hate to offend my good northern friend by adding too may supers to somebody else’s find lol
 

DeepseekerADS

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My BANNER vote is in as well - love it!
 

Aureus

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Never! I would hate to offend my good northern friend by adding too may supers to somebody else’s find lol

Even if you did, I'm sure I.P. will have enough time to heal the wound over the long winter months. :tongue3: But I would happily concede my Super Banner title so you can apply it to this one without offending your friend. :laughing7:

This thing is a museum piece and I have yet to find a museum that actually has a complete one in such a condition. If something deserves a multiple Super BANNER it's indeed this relic.
 

Last edited:

cambria09

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Hello Relicific. That is a fantastic find and a great back story. Thanks for posting it and Good Luck out there. C9
 

OP
OP
Relicific

Relicific

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Hello Relicific. That is a fantastic find and a great back story. Thanks for posting it and Good Luck out there. C9

Thank you
 

Kk77

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That’s one beautiful intact find congrats on finding that awesome piece!!
 

Aureus

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Normally they were cast brass. Native Americans sometimes removed them and wore them as ornamentation.

That's pretty cool! I'm wondering if someone has an example of a similar sideplate made into a Native jewelry piece?
 

l.cutler

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That's pretty cool! I'm wondering if someone has an example of a similar sideplate made into a Native jewelry piece?
I know somewhere I have a book with a picture of a Native American wearing several serpent side plates on a necklace of some sort.
 

OP
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Relicific

Relicific

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OP
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Relicific

Relicific

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I know somewhere I have a book with a picture of a Native American wearing several serpent side plates on a necklace of some sort.
That is so cool
 

Scrappy

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Even if you did, I'm sure I.P. will have enough time to heal the wound over the long winter months. :tongue3: But I would happily concede my Super Banner title so you can apply it to this one without offending your friend. :laughing7:

This thing is a museum piece and I have yet to find a museum that actually has a complete one in such a condition. If something deserves a multiple Super BANNER it's indeed this relic.

I say just call the whole banner thing off and put this guy right across the whole board.
ImageUploadedByTreasureNet.com1513951986.967227.jpg

And yeah, this thing is worth at least a couple of my banners. Lol
 

Donnie B from VA

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That is an AWESOME find! Congratulations!
 

Aureus

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I guess the cold weather slowed the speed this thing is moving towards the banner section. I'm sure it will look great up there.
 

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