Finished 2104 and Began 2015 with a FIRST EVER! Civil War Infantry Button!!!!!!!!!!!

Metal Illness

Hero Member
Jul 1, 2011
610
722
Englewood, Ohio
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Minelab E-Trac
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Found my first ever Fatty Indian (1861) Tuesday. When I left the field it was 24 degrees, been below freezing for the past 60-70 hours. So today, I'm too damn stubborn to acknowledge the obvious THE GROUND IS FROZEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 4-5 inches deep! After struggling to dig 4-5 Possible Indian penny signals, only to find copper shrapnel, I begin to think, your going to have to find some surface finds if your lucky. You've seen other threads where people find Seated Silvers/ Barber Halves on the surface just surrendering:laughing7:
After about 3 hours I turned off the E-trac and went looking for site number 2 on this property. I found it and started swinging again, found my first button on the surface, then another and finally the rope/chain thingy. Worked it for about an hour or so and wondered back over to the first site. Finally I stumbled onto the relic/honey hole area and started picking up surface relics. The suspender buckle, Goliath broken Crotal Bell, and the knife. It is stamped on the side case "American Knife Company" (no luck googling to figure out the age). Now I'm about 5 hours in without much to show and then BOOM!!!!! I see this beautiful green button 3-4 feet out ahead of me and before I picked it up I knew what I had just found, my FIRST EVER Civil War Button:headbang: just setting there in full surrender mode! The pictures are just the way I picked it up, I have not even rinsed it off yet. You can still see some of the gold gilt on it! I took about 3 steps and hit the LC about 2 inches deep! You can see the frost on it in the picture!
What a start to 2015, my first CW button and a LC 197 years old! (1818) Now the next 48 hours or so is suppose to be above freezing 50s. Sat and 40s Sun. Hopefully I might get 1 more Non-Frozen hunt in.
Thanks for looking, Bill

PS;
 

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Upvote 8

Mi$terG

Hero Member
Jan 25, 2013
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Eastern MA
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Great finds! Persistence pays off. Amazing button and LC- thanks for sharing.
 

Ahab8

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Oct 15, 2013
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Topsham, Maine
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Great find bud. Any military button in that condition is a great find
 

Ia.FurTrade

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Aug 9, 2008
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Southeast Iowa
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That's a beauty of a button! What's the backmark?

Iowa Dale
 

OP
OP
Metal Illness

Metal Illness

Hero Member
Jul 1, 2011
610
722
Englewood, Ohio
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Minelab E-Trac
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Great find bud. Any military button in that condition is a great find

Thanks Abe. Takes the sting out of the toasted LCs. I know that is a very lucky score, appears to be in Stellar condition with intact shank/hoop!
 

MikeDiG

Jr. Member
Nov 26, 2014
68
107
South Jersey
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Nice finds! That infantry button is sweet. Has a lot of detail still. Thanks for sharing!!
 

HomesteadHound

Jr. Member
Oct 14, 2014
43
47
PNW
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Love the patina on that button. Great finds!
 

beez0404

Silver Member
Jan 4, 2014
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Newton, NC
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and the knife. It is stamped on the side case "American Knife Company" (no luck googling to figure out the age). ;[/QUOTE said:
My knife bible shows two listings for the American Knife Company.

American Knife Company (Thomaston, CT) 1849-1865

American Knife Company (Winstead, CT) 1919-1955 Entire plant washed away in the Great Flood of 1955 and never reopened.
 

Last edited:
OP
OP
Metal Illness

Metal Illness

Hero Member
Jul 1, 2011
610
722
Englewood, Ohio
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Thank you Beez. So far in my limited time there I'm guessing this homestead was probably gone by the turn of the century. Anyhoo I'll take whatever come out of the ground!
 

CASPER-2

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Jan 3, 2012
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NICE - WTG!
 

pong12211

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Jan 5, 2013
2,487
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North central Pa.
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Great finds thanks for sharing and congrats on the success.
 

pepperj

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Feb 3, 2009
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Nice going on the button, It'll be nice to see it cleaned up, as there's a few different methods.
 

Ia.FurTrade

Bronze Member
Aug 9, 2008
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Southeast Iowa
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Like Beez said.........your knife dates to 1850's..........I've dug several of them.
Definately some nice find's!

Iowa Dale
 

OP
OP
Metal Illness

Metal Illness

Hero Member
Jul 1, 2011
610
722
Englewood, Ohio
Detector(s) used
Minelab E-Trac
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Like Beez said.........your knife dates to 1850's..........I've dug several of them.
Definately some nice find's!

Iowa Dale

Thanks Dale. The old homestead was at least still standing in 1875, according to my map. I don't know how long after that it was still occupied. I guess my digs will tell.
 

Mach1Pilot

Silver Member
Jul 21, 2008
3,000
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Bedford County, PA
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Love the button! Hope you find a few more large cents at that site too. :)
 

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