George Washington Inaugural Button!!!

paleomaxx

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Aug 14, 2016
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Unbelievable, this was the last thing I expected to pull out of this field! I had struck out at two sites and was sort of frustrated so I stopped by the field just to kill some time. The spot is rumored to have a 1750's meeting house, but the weeds are almost chest high so I haven't been able to determine if that's true and detecting is a struggle. I had wandered around for almost an hour following deer trails and only found a broken tip to a plow and some sort of modern brass gear. I was headed back up the hill to the car when I got a broken mid-tone. I dug a huge plug through the weeds and flipped it over but the tone was still deeper. I took out a big shovel full of dry, rocky dirt and saw the greenish circle just poking out. Sweet and dandy button; wouldn't it be funny if it was a...

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No freaking way! I held it up to the light and sure enough the very faint outline of the shield was visible under the dirt.

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A heraldic eagle GWI button! That was definitely it for detecting, at that point I was way too excited to keep swinging.

Because of the dirt I wasn't exactly sure what variety I had. It's been in a field for awhile so the fertilize had has some time to mess with it and I knew whatever detail was left would be super delicate. I ended up carving a small flat blade into a bamboo skewer and scraping off the dirt a little at a time. This left dirt in the low points which gave contrast to the engravings. If I went after the recessed dirt I was sure I would end up with just a brown disc. After some patience I think it turned out fantastic for a field button:

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Definitely the heraldic eagle with estoile variety and I think 54 border indentees, but it's tough to tell for sure. No shank, but otherwise little plow damage. Talk about a one in a million target! That entire field, all that tall grass, and the only old signal is pretty much the best thing I could possibly dig!

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Obviously I'll be pounding that field looking for more, but at the moment it really is next to impossible to cover it well with the weeds the way they are. I may have to wait until they brush hog it in the fall and do a proper grid. This will be a long couple of months. :laughing7:
 

Upvote 57

PullTabPete

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Jun 14, 2012
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Banner all day !

What a great find.
 

OP
OP
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paleomaxx

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Aug 14, 2016
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A couple additional thoughts: I view these buttons as pretty much the pinnacle of relics one could find in America, have there been any books dedicated to the study of these? I'd buy one. This is a totally useless thought and it's kind of apples to oranges but what would you say is more rare to find MD'ing: A gold coin or a GW button (talking America here as I don't think there have been too many found in Europe).

Albert's button book has a section on GW buttons. I would say the odds of finding either a gold coin or GW button are about the same, PROVIDED you live in one of the original 13 states. Outside that area, I'd say a gold coin. The buttons were so popular at the time additional orders were made for them. On a high note, prices are stable as there are some to choose from these days. Depends on the quality of the piece and who has it.

It also depends heavily on what type of sites you detect. Like Steve in PA said I mostly focus on abandoned late 1700's home sites so I'm way more likely to find a GWI button than colonial gold. On the other hand if you do old parks and yard permissions a gold coin may be more likely simply because of the wider range of dates that the site was active and the proportionally increased foot traffic. Even if you zero in on likely spots, it's still rare for either one to turn up. That's what makes them so awesome to find! :laughing7:
 

Valley Ranger

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Mar 24, 2011
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Nice one! Banner vote.
 

HEAVYMETALNUT

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Dec 8, 2008
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heck yeah! awesome find! welcome to the GW organization!
 

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