Unique Horse Rosette

[ANTIQUARIAN]

I targeted a couple of sites to search yesterday. The first ‘new permission' homestead site was in the middle of a farm field, unfortunately it was covered in a corn crop. (first two pics shown) I’ll have to wait for the fall harvest to detect this one. The next site I went to was where a one-room school was located in the 1860s. Unfortunately, it had seen a bunch of ton of activity in the past 150+ years and all I found there was modern trash and coins. Luckily it was located directly across the street from a homestead site the arkies had dug last summer.

As always, I would like to thank the arkies for leaving a beautiful looking horse rosette for me to find! Now, I’ve found a lot of rosettes in my nine years of detecting, but this example has more detail then any I’ve ever seen before. Coming out of the ground, it looked smooth as a baby’s bottom, it was only after giving it a warm bubble bath that the details started to appear. After a couple of passes on a fine brass wire wheel, a liberal slathering of Museum Conservator’s Wax and a final polishing with a buffer wheel, you can see the results. It was originally silver-plated on brass.

I have included pics of what the foundation look like that the arkies had uncovered last summer. The area circled in red is where I detected yesterday and also back in June after the beans had been planted... you can see what it looked like yesterday.

Thanks very much for looking,
Dave

 

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[Bodkin]

Wow! That cleaned up real nice. Congrats!!!

 

[civilman1]

I've always noticed how much you research your sites Dave. Great job The rosette turned out awesome,love the detail!! Keep at it

 

[Relicific]

That’s the nicest rosette I’ve seen.
Excellent Dave.

 

[Trezurehunter]

Nice looking Rosette. That thing cleaned up real nice.

 

[Digger RJ]

Nice!!! Congrats!!! I found My first Seated Dime at a long lost School like that. Good Luck on future hunts!!!

 

[Reanm8er]

That's superior Dave! From the research to the restoration, total package!

What's your interpretation of the image? Central figure, possibly female, looks like she may be throwing
a fishnet? Figure on the right maybe native chieftain or perhaps Neptune? The other finds look interesting
too. Is this the same group of archies with the sifter on a bobcat?

BANNER!

Many happy returns!

 

[RVRoamer73]

Wow!! Good job on that beautiful Rosette. Awesome save!

 

[DigToChina]

These are probably commercial Archie’s who’s only purpose is to look for some Indigenous bones which I’m sure the developers pray/pay aren’t found. Archie’s who dig ancient sites I absolutely see the need. I’m not as convinced when they require digging on a homestead which has oodles of documentation of settler life in comparison.

Great clean up on the rosette Dave. Is that Indian headdresses I see?

 

[RJGMC]

The image on the rosette reminded me of the constellation Orion!
RJGMC

 

[Professor of Engineering]

Very nice job, congrats!

 

[A2coins]

Thats a beauty Dave you earn all those good finds Well done

 

[ANTIQUARIAN]

Wow! That cleaned up real nice. Congrats!!!

Thanks for your post Bodkin.
Best of luck to you,
Dave

I've always noticed how much you research your sites Dave. Great job The rosette turned out awesome,love the detail!! Keep at it

Thanks buddy, I like to say... "If nothing happened there, then there'll be nothing to find"
Thorough research is the key to finding new sites to detect.
Dave

That’s the nicest rosette I’ve seen.
Excellent Dave.

It's the most decorative I've ever seen too.
Thanks for your post my friend.
Dave

Nice looking Rosette. That thing cleaned up real nice.

Thanks for your post Trezurehunter.
I'm definitely getting better with the bench polisher... I'm not destroying as many relics as I used to.
Dave

Nice!!! Congrats!!! I found My first Seated Dime at a long lost School like that. Good Luck on future hunts!!!

Thanks very much Randy!
Congrats on your Seated find, you never know what might pop up at these old sites.
Best of luck to you as well,
Dave

That's superior Dave! From the research to the restoration, total package!

What's your interpretation of the image? Central figure, possibly female, looks like she may be throwing
a fishnet? Figure on the right maybe native chieftain or perhaps Neptune? The other finds look interesting
too. Is this the same group of archies with the sifter on a bobcat?

BANNER!

Many happy returns!

Thanks for your support Phil, but I don't quite think that a horse rosette is BANNER material.
I've been trying to figure out what the scene is from?

Maybe she represents the Greek Goddess of Agriculture and the Harvest - "Demeter is the goddess of the harvest and presides over grains and the fertility of the earth.
Although she was most often referred to as the goddess of the harvest, she was also goddess of sacred law and the cycle of life and death."

The other figure looks like a Native American. There's a lot going on in the scene, I might have to post it in the What is it Forum.

This is another site down the road from where the arkies used the power sifter on the skid steer.
Dave

Wow!! Good job on that beautiful Rosette. Awesome save!

Thanks very much Patriot.
Also... thank you for your service!
Dave

These are probably commercial Archie’s who’s only purpose is to look for some Indigenous bones which I’m sure the developers pray/pay aren’t found. Archie’s who dig ancient sites I absolutely see the need. I’m not as convinced when they require digging on a homestead which has oodles of documentation of settler life in comparison.

Great clean up on the rosette Dave. Is that Indian headdresses I see?

Thanks for sharing your thoughts here my friend.
At one point there were 17 arkies on this site over a four month period last summer.
This was an early pioneer settlement site for the Durham Region, lived on by a well know family.
Consequently, the arkies did an in-depth investigation of the site.

What they didn't know is that I detected this site steady for almost 4 years prior to their arrival.

Hope you're having a good year in your area,
Dave

The image on the rosette reminded me of the constellation Orion!
RJGMC

Thanks very much for this RJ, I'll do some research and try to pin it down.
Dave

Very nice job, congrats!

Thank you Professor.
Dave

That's a beauty Dave you earn all those good finds Well done

Thanks very much buddy!
Hope you're having a productive year so far.
Dave

 

[Inspector]

Awesome research/story/recovery/pictures, that is a fantastic looking Rosette, excellent job cleaning, congratulations & HH

 

[Silver Tree Chaser]

Great Finds. I like the rosette - very unique. I've done lots of sifting (the primary means of artifact recovery by archaeologists) and read enough archaeological studies of colonial sites to know that the metal detecting is more productive than archaeological excavating in terms of the yield of artifacts recovered; furthermore, metal detecting hobbyists can make worthwhile contributions to the study and interpretation of finds with a small investment of time and effort. While I respect the work performed by archaeologists, I also fault them for the elitist views. I think their time would be better spent worrying about the steady loss of historical sites to land development and other events to the passing of time. Some archaeologists are working with detectorists, but many still arrogantly regards us as nothing more than looters. Such regard is a terrible misrepresentation.

 

[ANTIQUARIAN]

Awesome research/story/recovery/pictures, that is a fantastic looking Rosette, excellent job cleaning, congratulations & HH

Thank you for your post Inspector.
As I'm sure you well know, research is the key to making finds.
Dave

Great Finds. I like the rosette - very unique. I've done lots of sifting (the primary means of artifact recovery by archaeologists) and read enough archaeological studies of colonial sites to know that the metal detecting is more productive than archaeological excavating in terms of the yield of artifacts recovered; furthermore, metal detecting hobbyists can make worthwhile contributions to the study and interpretation of finds with a small investment of time and effort. While I respect the work performed by archaeologists, I also fault them for the elitist views. I think their time would be better spent worrying about the steady loss of historical sites to land development and other events to the passing of time. Some archaeologists are working with detectorists, but many still arrogantly regards us as nothing more than looters. Such regard is a terrible misrepresentation.

Thank you for your post and for sharing your thoughts my friend. You and I think along very similar lines when it comes to archeologists and the function they perform. My biggest complaint, is in my area they are hired by private land developers to do 'archeological assessments' of the land that is slated for development. In the majority of cases, they're only looking for evidence of Indigenous occupation and care little about the actual pioneer families who settled the land. The finds they make are catalogued, stored in boxes and are then made available to university students for study.

What I have a problem with is the report generated by the arkies. For the average local citizen like myself who wants to know what was found, this report is not available to the general public. The main reason is that it was privately commissioned and paid for by the developer and is therefore not made available to the public. By law here in Ontario, an archeological assessment must be made of all lands prior to development. I have been called "a thief of history" by an archeologist before, consequently I now make it my personal goal to recover whatever I can from their sites once they're done.

I always enjoy reading your posts and seeing your finds,
Dave

 

[ANTIQUARIAN]

Update

I was able to get more neutral lighting to rephotograph the rosette and the details about what's going on are much clearer!

I can now see two Native Americans and a female figure (Liberty?) standing next to a buffalo in the grass.

 

[creskol]

Actually, with these nice new photos, I see 3 Native Americans plus the figure in the foreground. .. the thing I thought was a sombrero is actually the buffalo's hind quarters, and his tail is very pronounced .. Tatonka..It was a good hunt!

Notice, too, that the Chief in the background and the lady in the front are wearing the same "chain-look" sash. My interpretation of it now is the Chief, and the Chieftainess (his wife) and their two son's are in celebration of the "first kill."

 

[ANTIQUARIAN]

Actually, with these nice new photos, I see 3 Native Americans plus the figure in the foreground. .. the thing I thought was a sombrero is actually the buffalo's hind quarters, and his tail is very pronounced .. Tatonka..It was a good hunt!

Notice, too, that the Chief in the background and the lady in the front are wearing the same "chain-look" sash. My interpretation of it now is the Chief, and the Chieftainess (his wife) and their two son's are in celebration of the "first kill."

This is definitely one of the most detailed rosettes I've ever found.
Isn't it amazing that something like this was missed by the arkies, who worked this site for 4 months last year.

Thank you so much for interpreting this for me creskol and for 'everything' you're doing for me.
Dave

 

[Hawks88]

Nice job on the clean up Dave. What a beauty. Congrats again.