paleomaxx
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- Aug 14, 2016
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This is the coolest and weirdest site I've found all year, and I only just stumbled across it! I was sweeping a steep hill in the woods with an odd furrow going down it when I hit on a flat button signal. And then another not 6 inches away, and then another... By the end of the first hunt (which was less than 3 hours long) I had over 60 buttons. The next day I found 30 more. I've been hitting the spot as hard as I can before winter sets in and I'm up over 150 buttons at this point with no end in sight!
What's particularly odd is it's near an 1820's mill site, but it doesn't seem to be directly related to the mill. The buttons are pretty tightly grouped going down the hill, but in the direction leading away from the mill. At first I thought it was a spill from a jar, but on the last few hunts I've started to find scatter that couldn't be explained by that. The other odd aspect are the associated finds. You'd think that with all those buttons there'd be tons of coins, but nope. In fact the associated relics are pretty weird themselves:
Lots of suspenders parts and bits of clipped lead and copper. The brass tag is "VanWormer & McGarvey, Albany," dates from 1866 to 1876, and is off a stove. Only two spoon bowls and no musket balls or bullets. While I might not know what this site was, the variety and quality of buttons is nothing short of spectacular!
Multiple sporting buttons including the one with the horse which I love. The last one seems to be a dog, but was run over. There area actually quite a few buttons which seem to have been run over and very solidly crushed which seems difficult given how soft the soil is around here.
Lots of colonial tombac buttons including one with a drilled shank, but no dandy buttons which was another oddity. The broken tombac has a beautiful etched pattern to it and I've been looking for the rest of it. The ground is very fine grained clay and quite moist. Initially I was worried that they would be chewed up by ground action, but it actually seemed to have preserved them better and I found a a bunch with their gilt still intact:
I had to do a bit of a lemon juice soak, but it worked perfectly and I especially like how the 2 and 3-piece buttons ended up looking. I was also able to get many of the backmarks visible and found the corresponding info:
• Leavenworth & Kendrick “Extra Rich” (c.1830’s)
• B & Burnham “Extra” (c. 1834-1843)
• Haydens & Co “Double Gilt” (c. 1827-1840’s)
• Wadhams Coe & Co “Extra Rich” (c. 1835-1837)
• Keeler & Freeman New York “Treble Gilt” (c. ~1828-1832)
• Robinson Jones & Co (c. 1828-1836)
• Scovills “Double Gilt” (c. 1827-1840)
Quite a few different makers and not many duplicates. The best grouping are the military buttons though.
I absolutely love finding military buttons of any sort and I've never come across such a variety in one spot. The highlight has to be this one:
It's a very early NY State Militia button, c. 1800-1815! These are rare to find in any condition, but with the silver wash it's absolutely gorgeous!
And then an 1820's or 1830's federal rifleman button which was a first for me! But not the only rifleman's button of the spot:
This one is a Regiment of Rifleman cuff button. Apparently they could be ordered in a Roman type font instead of the more familiar script ones. It's dated from 1808-1811 so War of 1812 era, but not necessarily related. I did also find a Federal Regiment of Artillery button from that time period:
Again these are dated from 1808-1811 and is quite an uncommon find around here. The only other one I found was years back, at a tavern site. There were a handful of somewhat newer military buttons as well:
I love how the Federal officer's button turned out after the lemon juice treatment and the backmark dates it to the 1850's. The crushed general service button is also 1850's. Finally the little button is an 1830's naval officer's cuff button.
Any one of those could be my favorite find for a site, but the next button really takes the cake and has to be the highlight of the spot!
A Zachary Taylor presidential campaign button from 1848!!!
Rough & Ready was his nickname from the Second Seminole War and his military service is what made him so popular at the time so it was front-and-center on the campaign buttons.
It took a long time to clean this properly due to the construction. The back is just tinned iron and very delicate so these usually don't hold up too well in the ground, but this one turned out as close to perfect as you could ask and somehow still has a standup shank!
While those are the highlights, there are dozens more buttons and quite a few are nicely designed:
There's definitely more hiding at the site, but the ground will freeze solid this week so it'll have to wait for the spring. It's quite the mystery; so many relics and buttons but no money changing hands. Hopefully some more relics can shed some light on what was going on around there from 1800-1850, but it had to have been an important or popular spot to attract so many gentlemen and military men over the years. More digging is in order, but the wait is going to be a killer.
That Zachary Taylor button makes my year though! Talk about ending the season on a high note!
What's particularly odd is it's near an 1820's mill site, but it doesn't seem to be directly related to the mill. The buttons are pretty tightly grouped going down the hill, but in the direction leading away from the mill. At first I thought it was a spill from a jar, but on the last few hunts I've started to find scatter that couldn't be explained by that. The other odd aspect are the associated finds. You'd think that with all those buttons there'd be tons of coins, but nope. In fact the associated relics are pretty weird themselves:
Lots of suspenders parts and bits of clipped lead and copper. The brass tag is "VanWormer & McGarvey, Albany," dates from 1866 to 1876, and is off a stove. Only two spoon bowls and no musket balls or bullets. While I might not know what this site was, the variety and quality of buttons is nothing short of spectacular!
Multiple sporting buttons including the one with the horse which I love. The last one seems to be a dog, but was run over. There area actually quite a few buttons which seem to have been run over and very solidly crushed which seems difficult given how soft the soil is around here.
Lots of colonial tombac buttons including one with a drilled shank, but no dandy buttons which was another oddity. The broken tombac has a beautiful etched pattern to it and I've been looking for the rest of it. The ground is very fine grained clay and quite moist. Initially I was worried that they would be chewed up by ground action, but it actually seemed to have preserved them better and I found a a bunch with their gilt still intact:
I had to do a bit of a lemon juice soak, but it worked perfectly and I especially like how the 2 and 3-piece buttons ended up looking. I was also able to get many of the backmarks visible and found the corresponding info:
• Leavenworth & Kendrick “Extra Rich” (c.1830’s)
• B & Burnham “Extra” (c. 1834-1843)
• Haydens & Co “Double Gilt” (c. 1827-1840’s)
• Wadhams Coe & Co “Extra Rich” (c. 1835-1837)
• Keeler & Freeman New York “Treble Gilt” (c. ~1828-1832)
• Robinson Jones & Co (c. 1828-1836)
• Scovills “Double Gilt” (c. 1827-1840)
Quite a few different makers and not many duplicates. The best grouping are the military buttons though.
I absolutely love finding military buttons of any sort and I've never come across such a variety in one spot. The highlight has to be this one:
It's a very early NY State Militia button, c. 1800-1815! These are rare to find in any condition, but with the silver wash it's absolutely gorgeous!
And then an 1820's or 1830's federal rifleman button which was a first for me! But not the only rifleman's button of the spot:
This one is a Regiment of Rifleman cuff button. Apparently they could be ordered in a Roman type font instead of the more familiar script ones. It's dated from 1808-1811 so War of 1812 era, but not necessarily related. I did also find a Federal Regiment of Artillery button from that time period:
Again these are dated from 1808-1811 and is quite an uncommon find around here. The only other one I found was years back, at a tavern site. There were a handful of somewhat newer military buttons as well:
I love how the Federal officer's button turned out after the lemon juice treatment and the backmark dates it to the 1850's. The crushed general service button is also 1850's. Finally the little button is an 1830's naval officer's cuff button.
Any one of those could be my favorite find for a site, but the next button really takes the cake and has to be the highlight of the spot!
A Zachary Taylor presidential campaign button from 1848!!!
Rough & Ready was his nickname from the Second Seminole War and his military service is what made him so popular at the time so it was front-and-center on the campaign buttons. It took a long time to clean this properly due to the construction. The back is just tinned iron and very delicate so these usually don't hold up too well in the ground, but this one turned out as close to perfect as you could ask and somehow still has a standup shank!
While those are the highlights, there are dozens more buttons and quite a few are nicely designed:
There's definitely more hiding at the site, but the ground will freeze solid this week so it'll have to wait for the spring. It's quite the mystery; so many relics and buttons but no money changing hands. Hopefully some more relics can shed some light on what was going on around there from 1800-1850, but it had to have been an important or popular spot to attract so many gentlemen and military men over the years. More digging is in order, but the wait is going to be a killer.
That Zachary Taylor button makes my year though! Talk about ending the season on a high note!
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