New Colonial Spot w/ Dandies, Relics, and a Nice Copper!

paleomaxx

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Aug 14, 2016
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Upstate, NY
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Haven't posted in awhile, but I have been getting out. I've been chasing down some leads in an older part of this area and had some great luck finding colonial spots that have been completely lost to history. This particular site is right next to a stream that passes the center of the village and doesn't look like there should be anything, but I found a slope with a heavy scatter of colonial relics. I have a feeling that they're weathering out of the hill, but I haven't nailed down the exact source yet. I found four different dandy buttons all near the surface and one that's an absolute stunner!

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The amount of gilt left on the basket weave is incredible and I usually don't see any gilt left on the dandy buttons! The other are pretty cool looking too and of course there were some newer tombac and brass buttons around:

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The heavily gilt flat button has a plain front, but the back mark is "E.C. Delevan & Co." I did some research and he's actually a fairly famous individual. He made his fortune as a hardware importer into New York and eventually became involved in the temperance movement. He established a temperance hotel in Albany NY as well as produced an enormous quantity of anti-alcohol pamphlets for Union soldiers during the Civil War.

I can't find any other mentions of these buttons so they may have been only worn by workers of his company as opposed to a widely produced product. Definitely a cool piece to research though!

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Plenty of the usual colonial bits including a batwing buckle, thimble, and part of what would have been a very nice looking Georgian shoe buckle. The brass square with the hooks I find at many of my colonial spots, but never on mid 19th century sites. I've always assumed that they were leather adornments for harnesses or other horse tack based on the cast hooks. Does anyone have a photo of one actually on an antique harness? I've always wondered precisely what their purpose was.

I did find two rings which is unusual.

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I find the large brass wedding bands pretty often, but the delicate one seems like it had a stone set in it at one time and that's much more uncommon. The coolest find has to be this brass clock face though:

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It was super deep, nearly 10 inches, and surrounded by old brick and square nails so I'm amazed the detector picked it up. I love the roman numerals and the brass held up pretty well in the ground too.

The very last dig of the day was a colonial copper that was thickly encrusted by dirt, but after some careful cleaning it turned out to be in great shape as well!

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1730 King George II halfpenny! :hello2: Very old for this part of the State and in great shape so the perfect way to end the day!

Hopefully everyone is staying safe and still able to get outside at least for a little bit each day.
 

Upvote 30
Very Nice!!! Congrats!!!
 

Fantastic hunt, includes may great keepers! :icon_thumleft:
 

Nice finds. Love the buttons. That KGII is great. I wish my coppers came out of the ground like that. I have dug about 10 this year, all slick or barely identifiable. Congrats to you!
 

What a great bunch of finds you made at your hillside site!!! I think one of your best finds is the batwing buckle! Those are really cool. Also that's a great copper in decent condition compared to how they often are... and it even has a date! I found one of those clock face pieces once but it was really only about half of it.
 

Ver nice! Congrats!
 

Killer hunt!! Looks like that place is a real producer, there must be some old silver in there somewhere :icon_thumleft:
 

Great bunch of finds. The condition of those buttons is awesome. Obviously well preserved by soil. Hogge
 

What an incredible bunch of finds! The basket weave button is a dazzler and the clock face is too cool.
 

Stunning KGll ! Wow... excellent detail for a coin almost 300 years old. Congrats on some great saves... Ddf.
 

Haven't posted in awhile, but I have been getting out. I've been chasing down some leads in an older part of this area and had some great luck finding colonial spots that have been completely lost to history. This particular site is right next to a stream that passes the center of the village and doesn't look like there should be anything, but I found a slope with a heavy scatter of colonial relics. I have a feeling that they're weathering out of the hill, but I haven't nailed down the exact source yet. I found four different dandy buttons all near the surface and one that's an absolute stunner!

View attachment 1814360View attachment 1814361View attachment 1814363

The amount of gilt left on the basket weave is incredible and I usually don't see any gilt left on the dandy buttons! The other are pretty cool looking too and of course there were some newer tombac and brass buttons around:

View attachment 1814377View attachment 1814395

The heavily gilt flat button has a plain front, but the back mark is "E.C. Delevan & Co." I did some research and he's actually a fairly famous individual. He made his fortune as a hardware importer into New York and eventually became involved in the temperance movement. He established a temperance hotel in Albany NY as well as produced an enormous quantity of anti-alcohol pamphlets for Union soldiers during the Civil War.

I can't find any other mentions of these buttons so they may have been only worn by workers of his company as opposed to a widely produced product. Definitely a cool piece to research though!

View attachment 1814393View attachment 1814396View attachment 1814397

Plenty of the usual colonial bits including a batwing buckle, thimble, and part of what would have been a very nice looking Georgian shoe buckle. The brass square with the hooks I find at many of my colonial spots, but never on mid 19th century sites. I've always assumed that they were leather adornments for harnesses or other horse tack based on the cast hooks. Does anyone have a photo of one actually on an antique harness? I've always wondered precisely what their purpose was.

I did find two rings which is unusual.

View attachment 1814399

I find the large brass wedding bands pretty often, but the delicate one seems like it had a stone set in it at one time and that's much more uncommon. The coolest find has to be this brass clock face though:

View attachment 1814400View attachment 1814402

It was super deep, nearly 10 inches, and surrounded by old brick and square nails so I'm amazed the detector picked it up. I love the roman numerals and the brass held up pretty well in the ground too.

The very last dig of the day was a colonial copper that was thickly encrusted by dirt, but after some careful cleaning it turned out to be in great shape as well!

View attachment 1814403View attachment 1814404

1730 King George II halfpenny! :hello2: Very old for this part of the State and in great shape so the perfect way to end the day!

Hopefully everyone is staying safe and still able to get outside at least for a little bit each day.

This is great! As a history teacher living on the West Coast these type of finds amaze me--we can't find history like this out here. What a great way to learn history. It would be great to give a kid a box of old artifacts and ask him/her what he can tell about the people whom used the items. Thanks for the post!
 

I was metal detecting around an old foundation deep in the woods in North Smithfield, RI and found the exact same button. E.C. Delavan & Company. If that is a company button it's baffling why it would be in RI. I would like to know who manufactured it? ..my guess BENEDICT AND BURNHAM in CT.
 

Haven't posted in awhile, but I have been getting out. I've been chasing down some leads in an older part of this area and had some great luck finding colonial spots that have been completely lost to history. This particular site is right next to a stream that passes the center of the village and doesn't look like there should be anything, but I found a slope with a heavy scatter of colonial relics. I have a feeling that they're weathering out of the hill, but I haven't nailed down the exact source yet. I found four different dandy buttons all near the surface and one that's an absolute stunner!

View attachment 1814360View attachment 1814361View attachment 1814363

The amount of gilt left on the basket weave is incredible and I usually don't see any gilt left on the dandy buttons! The other are pretty cool looking too and of course there were some newer tombac and brass buttons around:

View attachment 1814377View attachment 1814395

The heavily gilt flat button has a plain front, but the back mark is "E.C. Delevan & Co." I did some research and he's actually a fairly famous individual. He made his fortune as a hardware importer into New York and eventually became involved in the temperance movement. He established a temperance hotel in Albany NY as well as produced an enormous quantity of anti-alcohol pamphlets for Union soldiers during the Civil War.

I can't find any other mentions of these buttons so they may have been only worn by workers of his company as opposed to a widely produced product. Definitely a cool piece to research though!

View attachment 1814393View attachment 1814396View attachment 1814397

Plenty of the usual colonial bits including a batwing buckle, thimble, and part of what would have been a very nice looking Georgian shoe buckle. The brass square with the hooks I find at many of my colonial spots, but never on mid 19th century sites. I've always assumed that they were leather adornments for harnesses or other horse tack based on the cast hooks. Does anyone have a photo of one actually on an antique harness? I've always wondered precisely what their purpose was.

I did find two rings which is unusual.

View attachment 1814399

I find the large brass wedding bands pretty often, but the delicate one seems like it had a stone set in it at one time and that's much more uncommon. The coolest find has to be this brass clock face though:

View attachment 1814400View attachment 1814402

It was super deep, nearly 10 inches, and surrounded by old brick and square nails so I'm amazed the detector picked it up. I love the roman numerals and the brass held up pretty well in the ground too.

The very last dig of the day was a colonial copper that was thickly encrusted by dirt, but after some careful cleaning it turned out to be in great shape as well!

View attachment 1814403View attachment 1814404

1730 King George II halfpenny! :hello2: Very old for this part of the State and in great shape so the perfect way to end the day!

Hopefully everyone is staying safe and still able to get outside at least for a little bit each day.
I found a small gilted flat button yesterday in Maryland with the backmark of EC Delavan but haven't had any luck finding out more about it.
 

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I found a small gilted flat button yesterday in Maryland with the backmark of EC Delavan but haven't had any luck finding out more about it.

I traced the button to Edward C. Delavan who was a wholesale wine merchant in the mid 1820's out of New York City. My assumption is the buttons were off company uniforms. He worked as an import agent for his brother's hardware company out of England before running his own company so he may have ordered their manufacture from contact he made during that time. There's a neat biography on him that can be found here:


Ironically, in his later life he was an influential leader of the temperance movement!
 

Kg2 in great condition
 

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