🥇 BANNER 1700's Luckenbooth TRADE Silver!

Patriot Relics

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Location
Lowcountry, South Carolina / Richmond, Virginia
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Detector(s) used
CTX-3030, Deus XP II
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Relic Hunting
Hey guys,

Headed back out to an old colonial permission, turned honey hole recently with Stef45. Weather hasn't been great, but we did manage a get in a few hours before the rain ran us off. Every time I walk away from hunting here, I start researching new sites as we assuming it must be pounded out. Countless hours gridding with both the CTX and Deus have almost certainly cleared the good stuff...not quite. Instead of walking in grids, I decided to change the angle of the coil by walking in a concentric circle on the main iron patch. Today's weapon of choice was the mighty XP Deus and my first target was the mythical whisper signal. 99% of the time these top of the right horseshoe targets are deep iron (OutdoorAdv can probably speak better to this), but every now and then its a deep non-ferrous target. Dug the plug, but still no target...with all the iron there is no chance of a clean pin point so I widened the plug and dug a bit deeper. At the point were the sandy top soil met the hard clay (12-13 inches) my pin pointer finally rang out. Never thought I'd see one of these in person...1700s Luckenbooth trade silver brooch!

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A bit of history on these- A Luckenbooth brooch is a Scottish heart-shaped brooch. Luckenbooth is traditionally given to a bride by her groom on her wedding day as a symbol of love (heart) and loyalty (crown). They were also attached to either the bedclothes or the clothing of a newborn child as it was believed to ease child birth and insure good breast milk. These brooches often have a crown above one heart, or two intertwined hearts with Scottish motifs like the St. Andrew's Cross or the thistle. The crown is designed after that of Mary Queen of Scots. She gave a Luckenbooth brooch to her betroth decorated with her monogram and a thistle. The thistle is the national emblem of Scotland along with the Latin motto, Nemo me impune Laecessit ("No one provokes me with impunity"). Silver was the usual material, although gold heart brooches were made for wealthy people. Some brooches were engraved with initials, dates or mottoes. Inexpensive glass paste "gems" or stones (described in ancient advertisements as Cairngorm stones) were sometimes used on silver brooches. Its name is believed to have come from the "Locked Booths" where these brooches were sold on The Royal Mile in Edinburgh. Locked booths were shops in Edinburgh from St Giles to Canon gate which became the city's first Jewellery shops in the 16th century (luckenbooth was a Scots word for a lockable stall or workshop). They were demolished in 1817.

By the mid 18th century luckenbooth tokens also featured heavily as trade silver items to the indigenous peoples of North America, particularly the Six Nations and Iroquois Indians. As a result, Iroquois created their own "Iroquois brooch" and luckenbooth became a common decorative symbol in 18th and early 19th century native clothing.


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This silver brooch is without a doubt my favorite civilian relic recovered to date.

Not far from the brooch, I got another whisper target- at about the same depth at the clay layer. 1781 1/2 Real Spanish (this time with the CTX)

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As if these 2 silver weren't enough I also checked the 1857 flying eagle cent off the bucket list

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Also pulled a crusty 1873 IHP

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As far as other relics go, recovered a few nice flat buttons- 1 with silver wash and another with a flower design

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Few other unmarked flats

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Also dug a pewter spoon

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Pair of 18th century leather bosses

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Along the perimeter of the property I started digging a ton of camp lead- also these tent rivets (one still has the leather intact)

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This one is a bit of a mystery- maybe early stained glass fragment (green class with lead in back)

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Also a nice iron buckle destined for the electrolysis tank

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Suspect this button is turn of the century- cloth covered with iron back

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All in all another hunt for the record books for me- trade silver brooch, Spanish, and a Flying Eagle cent has set the bar high for the rest of 2017. As always thanks for looking and good luck out there

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Upvote 94
You certainly had a killer day. Looks like there is still a lot left at that site. Love the Lukenbooth brooch. I dug a partial one on Saturday. Mine was most likely broken by the plow.

Congrats to you as well Steve, even as a partial still an incredible dig
 

Congratulations on the killer silver brooch Jon. Simply exceptional.

That is an extremely nice set of finds.

Thanks Tom, no complaints with the Spanish or FE...any over day I would have been happy with either. This little silver brooch is just on a different level
 

Congratulations on the fine group of finds! A question on one of the other items, in last pic,top left, what is it & what's it made of? Thks Dn
 

Simply Amazing! :icon_thumright:
 

Thanks for the fun history lesson. You certainly had an epic day of digging. Congratulations!
 

Congratulations on the fine group of finds! A question on one of the other items, in last pic,top left, what is it & what's it made of? Thks Dn

Hey DN not much help for tge colonial whatzit, copper alloy, holed and comes to a point...hardware for something as only one side is flush
 

Crazy how things seem to come up in groups on here....even when it's a fairly scarce find. Funny how The Patriot and I dug them back to back then you and Steve did as well. You just never know my friend

Some incredible finds across the forum lately, had no idea what these were before you and patriot dug yours. Never realized the history behind the heart motif
 

I had tunnel vision with the luckenbooth, but that is some assortment of buttons! Is that a cloth button?! Sheeze man, banner hunt!
 

Thanks for the fun history lesson. You certainly had an epic day of digging. Congratulations!

Thanks monkey and wildcat, not a ton of material on these but glad you enjoyed the narrative
 

Hey DN not much help for tge colonial whatzit, copper alloy, holed and comes to a point...hardware for something as only one side is flush
Thanks, Relic Nut found one very similar this w/e.
 

Normally, I might also think that hunt would be difficult to top......but, after seeing the bounty you acquired in 2016, I believe you are just setting the table for 2017!!
Banner vote is in.........
 

I just put my vote in, I'm a little behind in my reading of post. Congrats.
 

Normally, I might also think that hunt would be difficult to top......but, after seeing the bounty you acquired in 2016, I believe you are just setting the table for 2017!!
Banner vote is in.........

Thanks for the vote Chizzy, looks like 2017 is going to be a good one
 

Amazing finds, VMI! That brooch is amazing! You mention ticking the FE off your bucket list - considering the amount and quality of your finds, I think what you really need now is a bigger bucket! Congrats and thanks for sharing.
 

Amazing finds, VMI! That brooch is amazing! You mention ticking the FE off your bucket list - considering the amount and quality of your finds, I think what you really need now is a bigger bucket! Congrats and thanks for sharing.

Haha thanks Tommy, was just talking with Stef about bucket list digs- always happy digging colonial so I'd say hammered gold or a Rev War era plate is at the top :laughing7: perhaps the bar is a bit high
 

Haha thanks Tommy, was just talking with Stef about bucket list digs- always happy digging colonial so I'd say hammered gold or a Rev War era plate is at the top :laughing7: perhaps the bar is a bit high
No such thing as the bar being too high brother! When I started this hobby I put Mass silver at the tippy top. Less than 2 years later I had one in my collection. If you write it down and believe you can do it, then put in the time and research and effort you just might make it happen. You've already found some once in a lifetimers buddy.... no reason for that to stop now. I'm enjoying watching your success
 

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