A crazy rare Revolutionary War period General Washington cufflink.

[Aureus]

Got a nice holiday miracle this morning.
While going through various pieces of copper from my late December detecting trip I have noticed a pretty worn but interesting partial cufflink that seemed to have a right facing profile on it. I didn't pay too much attention to it at first, thinking I might have found one of the George III profile pieces.


To my surprise,after a bit of the research,it appears to be one of the rare types of early American patriotic jewellery. In fact, Heritage Auctions had a silver cufflink of the exact same type describing it as an Extremely Rare Circa 1775-1780 George Washington Shanked Cufflink The price realized seems to corroborate their statement and they mention knowing of only one other existing piece of this type (no mention of existence of the brass ones what so ever).


You can notice the clearly visible letters G-E (General) on the lower left and W-A (Washington) on the top right.
It's funny, but just a few days ago I was complaining to a friend of mine about the fact that I have never found any GW relic and questioning the possibility of ever finding one.Well it seems like I got way more than what I was hoping for as this item predates the inaugural buttons and was made before the end of the Revolutionary War.

Thanks for the comments.

 

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[Aureus]

I didn't even know this existed...pretty incredible! Congratulations!!!

Thanks Silvermonkey

 

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[Aureus]

Not a bad find to have come from your scrap pile

For sure, I'll have to go over my scrap copper pile again. Never know.

 

[Aureus]

Very cool. Nice find. Congrats! Nice ID as well

Thanks dfallis1.

 

[Aureus]

That must have been pretty astonishing to find out that it was so rare! What a cool find. Congrats!

Yes, was a bit of a shock.
Thanks xcopperstax

 

[SouthJerseyJim]

Very cool. There are some disimiliarities though compared to the genuine silver example. What is with the S in the forehead? Could this possibly be mistaken for GEorgius? The king instead?

 

[Aureus]

Very cool. There are some disimiliarities though compared to the genuine silver example. What is with the S in the forehead? Could this possibly be mistaken for GEorgius? The king instead?

I don't see why there would be an "S" on the forehead even if it was indeed George III, it could be just an effect of corrosion. If you look at 1 o'clock ( top right)on the first pic you'll notice the clearly visible letters W and A

 

[pa-dirt_nc-sand]

Awesome little surprise treasure you uncovered and great ID work. Congrats!!

 

[Dirtwisher]

Well ain’t that flippin’ awesome! I would have dumped it in the button bucket and never realized what I had.

 

[Aureus]

Wonderful, I would display this on my desk in a small frame. Great conversation piece. Yes, please do not clean it.

Thanks. No I won't clean it, that's for sure.

 

[Aureus]

Congratulations on an amazing find!
Good luck and I hope you find the other one.

Thanks nwpa. I sure hope so.

 

[Aureus]

Your mission, if you accept, is to find the matching one this year.

Mission accepted!

 

[Aureus]

Outstanding find, congratulations!

Thanks PoE

 

[Aureus]

Very nice find Aureus. Didnt know these existed. Thanks for showing.

Thanks bonepicker

 

[Whyme]

WOW awesome find! Congrats!

 

[Rubka888]

Super rare find! That is so cool. Banner worthy!

 

[Switchblade]

Awesome find!

 

[Aureus]

Outstanding find, especially up in the Great White North!

Yes, super happy about considering it's from the Rev War period.

 

[Bubba65]

AWESOME find, glad you ID it

 

[Aureus]

That is really cool! Congrats!!!

Thanks lairmo

 

[Aureus]

That's one hell of an ID bud - huge congrats on another historic save

Thanks VMI Digger