Bill D. (VA)
Silver Member
I know I’m guilty of not having posted any finds for quite some time, but I’ve been incredibly busy with digging at several productive sites, cleaning and ID’ing finds, training for a marathon relay, working in the yard, finishing up the first phase of a major project I’ve been working on for months, etc, and just haven’t had a spare moment to put together anything on my recent recoveries. So I’m now finally making the time, and I apologize for the length of this catch-up post, but it’s necessary to give these items the attention they deserve.
I’m not going to get into the specific details of any of these sites except to say one was local, and the others were outside of my normal territory. And they saw occupancy anywhere from the 1600s to the turn-of-the-century. But I only spent time hunting those spots that were producing something colonial, and walked away from several early 1900s sites that weren’t of interest to me. Multiple hotspots were located at each site, and the quantity and quality of the recoveries was surprisingly good. Buttons, as usual, were the big winner with well over 100 found followed by a big pile of musketballs of all sizes. But an astounding total of 17 coins were dug at these sites including 8 colonial silvers. And this finally allowed me to break the jinx on cut coins that has plagued me since I went to that “CUT SLVR” license plate last fall
. Some great individual finds were also recovered, and these will be highlighted below. But first, here’s a couple group shots of the overall finds made at these sites over the last month or so. The first pic was uploaded as a huge file so you can zoom in multiple times to get a good, up-close look at the items.
Next are the coins. The silvers are all small and many are not in good condition, but after a very slow season they are quite welcomed and appreciated. They included 4 cut pieces, 1 cob, and 3 half reales (2 are slicks). And the 9 coppers consisted of 1 KG2, 2 Va halfpennies, 1 draped bust LC (1798), 1 classic head LC (1810), 2 matron head LCs, a counterstamped LC (with the Roman numeral “XII”), and one slick.
Probably my favorite find overall was a Royal Edinburgh Volunteers 80[SUP]th[/SUP] Regiment of Foot button. This unit saw action during the siege at Yorktown during the final days of the Revolutionary War, and this one piece officer’s button displays an incised “80” which still retains much of its original gilt.
Another awesome find was this 17[SUP]th[/SUP] century seal matrix displaying a coat of arms that was identified by my UK friend Kev as belonging to the Fleetwood family who first came to Jamestown in 1609.
A long-time friend of mine also helped with another ID, and passed along this artifact to an expert who identified it as Jesuit fur trade type cross, although those are usually found well NW of Virginia. But this one could possibly date as far back as 1570 when the Jesuits were documented as having traveled up the James River, and made a couple stops, including in the vicinity of where the cross was found (not far from Jamestown), while attempting to establish a Spanish mission in the New World. That’s the only way I can figure it could have been lost here.
One of the very first finds I made at one of the sites was a Bristol merchant’s trade token dated 1670 minted in brass, and these are extremely difficult to find on this side of the pond. On the obverse are the large letters “CB” for ”CIVITAS BRISTOL” and “A BRISTOL FARTHING.” And on the reverse “THE ARMES OF BRISTOL (Coat of Arms) with a sailing ship going left issuing from a castle. Very cool find although it did not clean up that well.
Never found one of these before either. It’s an oval cuff button depicting an image of George III with the inscription “The King” across the top.
I also have never recovered a colonial book clasp, and this one could date as far back as the 1600s and may have been used on a family Bible.
This is a cool early buckle with maker’s mark “IA” on the chape, but so far I’ve been unable to determine the bucklemaker. It was probably a stud chape style buckle with the stud broken off, and probably dates from 1690 to 1720.
I always love recovering these mid-1600s fig-shaped spoon bowls with maker’s mark, and this one displays a lovely green patina along with a good portion of the stem. It came from a 14" depth.
This find isn’t all that unique as I’ve found several previously, but a late 18[SUP]th[/SUP] century bullion weight is always a nice recovery.
I’ve really become interested in early lead tokens, and many just had random lines etched on both sides. But one I recovered has the image of a Spanish cross on one side and resembles an early cob.
Another couple of 19[SUP]th[/SUP] century military buttons found at separate sites include this early navy and CW era Virginia coat with a Scovill Waterbury backmark.
Lastly, here are a couple of decorative, gilted buttons that cleaned up quite nicely.
And here are a few other random pics from the field …..
With the weeds quickly taking over, and planting not far off, this may be the end of my season. But it was quite a way to conclude what was otherwise a rather slow last few months. Now back to my big project ….
I’m not going to get into the specific details of any of these sites except to say one was local, and the others were outside of my normal territory. And they saw occupancy anywhere from the 1600s to the turn-of-the-century. But I only spent time hunting those spots that were producing something colonial, and walked away from several early 1900s sites that weren’t of interest to me. Multiple hotspots were located at each site, and the quantity and quality of the recoveries was surprisingly good. Buttons, as usual, were the big winner with well over 100 found followed by a big pile of musketballs of all sizes. But an astounding total of 17 coins were dug at these sites including 8 colonial silvers. And this finally allowed me to break the jinx on cut coins that has plagued me since I went to that “CUT SLVR” license plate last fall
. Some great individual finds were also recovered, and these will be highlighted below. But first, here’s a couple group shots of the overall finds made at these sites over the last month or so. The first pic was uploaded as a huge file so you can zoom in multiple times to get a good, up-close look at the items.Next are the coins. The silvers are all small and many are not in good condition, but after a very slow season they are quite welcomed and appreciated. They included 4 cut pieces, 1 cob, and 3 half reales (2 are slicks). And the 9 coppers consisted of 1 KG2, 2 Va halfpennies, 1 draped bust LC (1798), 1 classic head LC (1810), 2 matron head LCs, a counterstamped LC (with the Roman numeral “XII”), and one slick.
Probably my favorite find overall was a Royal Edinburgh Volunteers 80[SUP]th[/SUP] Regiment of Foot button. This unit saw action during the siege at Yorktown during the final days of the Revolutionary War, and this one piece officer’s button displays an incised “80” which still retains much of its original gilt.
Another awesome find was this 17[SUP]th[/SUP] century seal matrix displaying a coat of arms that was identified by my UK friend Kev as belonging to the Fleetwood family who first came to Jamestown in 1609.
A long-time friend of mine also helped with another ID, and passed along this artifact to an expert who identified it as Jesuit fur trade type cross, although those are usually found well NW of Virginia. But this one could possibly date as far back as 1570 when the Jesuits were documented as having traveled up the James River, and made a couple stops, including in the vicinity of where the cross was found (not far from Jamestown), while attempting to establish a Spanish mission in the New World. That’s the only way I can figure it could have been lost here.
One of the very first finds I made at one of the sites was a Bristol merchant’s trade token dated 1670 minted in brass, and these are extremely difficult to find on this side of the pond. On the obverse are the large letters “CB” for ”CIVITAS BRISTOL” and “A BRISTOL FARTHING.” And on the reverse “THE ARMES OF BRISTOL (Coat of Arms) with a sailing ship going left issuing from a castle. Very cool find although it did not clean up that well.
Never found one of these before either. It’s an oval cuff button depicting an image of George III with the inscription “The King” across the top.
I also have never recovered a colonial book clasp, and this one could date as far back as the 1600s and may have been used on a family Bible.
This is a cool early buckle with maker’s mark “IA” on the chape, but so far I’ve been unable to determine the bucklemaker. It was probably a stud chape style buckle with the stud broken off, and probably dates from 1690 to 1720.
I always love recovering these mid-1600s fig-shaped spoon bowls with maker’s mark, and this one displays a lovely green patina along with a good portion of the stem. It came from a 14" depth.
This find isn’t all that unique as I’ve found several previously, but a late 18[SUP]th[/SUP] century bullion weight is always a nice recovery.
I’ve really become interested in early lead tokens, and many just had random lines etched on both sides. But one I recovered has the image of a Spanish cross on one side and resembles an early cob.
Another couple of 19[SUP]th[/SUP] century military buttons found at separate sites include this early navy and CW era Virginia coat with a Scovill Waterbury backmark.
Lastly, here are a couple of decorative, gilted buttons that cleaned up quite nicely.
And here are a few other random pics from the field …..
With the weeds quickly taking over, and planting not far off, this may be the end of my season. But it was quite a way to conclude what was otherwise a rather slow last few months. Now back to my big project ….
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I'd say you pretty much clobbered it too! I zoomed and scrolled all over that first picture.... dont even know where to start man. Just a killer group from your last hunts. Those cut pistareens have a lot of detail too. I really like that seal matrix of the Fleetwood crest and "The King" cufflink. Too many awesome finds to take in... so I'll just revisit this post a few times in the next days so I can absorb it all. Excellent post and finds Bill.
