Royal Sappers & Miners Button War of 1812 Era CW .69 cal & Wms. Cleaner

bonepicker

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Jan 5, 2012
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Relic Hunting
Made it out for another Relic Hunt, with a Relic hunting buddy hoping to find some nice CW items.
The day was going slow until I found a nice dome shape flat button with shank.
After doing a little toothpicking and a little mineral oil soak it turned out to be a British Royal Sappers & Miners button with McGowan London Brand Back mark. AKA a Royal Engineers button.
This site has been real good to me. Last time I was there I saved a pre-1800s British Royal Navy Anchor Button
The 4th photo is not mine and just to show what it should look like.
Here is a link I found where Antiquarian found a similar button earlier this year.
http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/t...site-train-station-finds-war-1812-button.html

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Right after finding this button things picked up for me quite a bit as I was in an area where I had found 22 deep Minnie balls in one day. Dropped my Reactivity down to 1 and silencer to -1, upped the sensi a hair and the deep lead started lighting up. Maybe the rain helped a bit, but I was hearing faint beautiful tones and digging minnies at 11-12" inches deep. Ended up with 6 .58 cal Minnie balls, a nice Williams cleaner, and my first .69 cal Minnie ball.
My first cleaner round with the zinc still attached and my first .69 cal. Cant believe how big the .69 cal is compared to the others. Sucker weighs 43 grams.

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Upvote 18
Wow, nice hunt ! :icon_thumleft:
 

Another AWESOME Button !
Congratz!

A nice haul of Minnies as well , love the way those .58's Come to a Point.
.Only dug 2-3 69's here in N Ga, WC 's Are a welcome sight always.

Good Stuff
Davers
 

Nice save!
Thanks Pepper J.!
Wow, nice hunt ! :icon_thumleft:
Thanks Digging440yrs. Seems like I get a button and some bullets every time I goto that spot.
Thanks Casper..
Another AWESOME Button !
Congratz!

A nice haul of Minnies as well , love the way those .58's Come to a Point.
.Only dug 2-3 69's here in N Ga, WC 's Are a welcome sight always.

Good Stuff
Davers
Thanks Davers. That's 5 CW GS Eagles and the 3rd 1812 era button from this site for me. Seems like im way past due for some BIG BRASS....
I love finding minnies and yesterday I actually pulled a little variety, which was nice. Those .69's are crazy FAT, and the WC's are neat too.
My buddy said he dug a few .69 cals and several WCs out of this site a while back before we started hunting together, but until today all I have found here were the standard .58 cal minnies and .58 cal roundballs
Yesterday he dug 3 minnies and a roundball, some brass square nails, a brass triangle which we think is a suspender buckle part.
He thought he dug a small eagle cuff button right as it was getting dark, but it actually turned out to be a crusty tent grommet.:laughing7:
 

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PICKER U SURE KNOW HOW TO MAKE A FELLOW HAVE DTS FROM METAL DETECTING .. I TELL MYSELF SOON OR LATER I WILL FIND A SITE LIKE THIS BUT FOR SOME REASON ITS ALWAYS LATER ... REALLY NICE FINDS YOU HAVE THERE AND SWEET LOOKING BUTTON .........................
 

Now thats alot of lead!!
Way to go BP.
 

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Just wanted to share these photos of where some of the Sappers & Miners ended their service. This cemetery is a few miles from where I live and drive past almost weekly, so I stopped one day to read the historical markers.
 

PICKER U SURE KNOW HOW TO MAKE A FELLOW HAVE DTS FROM METAL DETECTING .. I TELL MYSELF SOON OR LATER I WILL FIND A SITE LIKE THIS BUT FOR SOME REASON ITS ALWAYS LATER ... REALLY NICE FINDS YOU HAVE THERE AND SWEET LOOKING BUTTON .........................
Thanks Sutphin. How come you are having DT's??
Im looking for another site like this, been scouting some lately, but not much is panning out.
Even though we keep thinking ol faithful has been beat down hard, we keep pulling a few goodies every trip. We just have to work a little harder and dig a little deeper.
Keep looking im sure your time is coming soon. :thumbsup:
Now thats alot of lead!!
Way to go BP.
Thanks Vino. Love the lead, but would love to find a nice buckle or box-plate.. I suppose we just have to keep plugging away.
Just wanted to share these photos of where some of the Sappers & Miners ended their service. This cemetery is a few miles from where I live and drive past almost weekly, so I stopped one day to read the historical markers.
Cool pics Pepper J. Thanks for sharing. Before I dug this button I had no idea what a Sapper and Miner was. That's the neat thing about this hobby.
Every time I dig something strange. After doing a little research, I learn something new.
Sounds like those guys had it rough. Malaria--Yikes... Yellow-fever was very common here for the early colonists.
 

Great finds bp, the button is a nice save and it's over 200 years old too! :occasion14:

It sure would be nice to go out detecting here in Ontario and have the opportunity to dig the amount of bullets you guys in the south do! :laughing7:

Thanks for the PM too,
Dave
 

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Just found this pic and thought it was pretty neat. Some of the early metal detectorists, lol.
 

awesome finds man! keep it up!
 

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