1830s to 1840s Militia Sword Belt Plate Fell Out on Me Moving a Boulder over the weekend.

[RatherBeDigging]

Don't really know where to begin on this because it's a wild story. I was in a section of waterway there had a lot of 20th century dumping and unfortunately a ton of iron bits. A detector isn't very helpful in this section, but I like to rearrange the rocks and burn up 9 volts and see what's hiding. I had just moved a rock and a mercury dime and captain midnight badge came out along with a lot of mud. Moved on to an rock partly in the bank that looked like it was there a long time. I was scooping out mud and iron bits and this brass rectangle appeared in the slop. Really assumed it was going to be yet another piece of the never ending copper scrap here. It was not. Until this the oldest metal find in this section had been an 1892 barber dime. The area is certainly old enough for this to be in waterway.

 

[Tesorodeoro]

Don't really know where to begin on this because it's a wild story. I was in a section of waterway there had a lot of 20th century dumping and unfortunately a ton of iron bits. A detector isn't very helpful in this section, but I like to rearrange the rocks and burn up 9 volts and see what's hiding. I had just moved a rock and a mercury dime and captain midnight badge came out along with a lot of mud. Moved on to a rock partly in the bank that looked like it was there a long time. I was scooping out mud and iron bits and this brass rectangle appeared in the slop. Really assumed it was going to be yet another piece of the never ending copper scrap here. It was not. Until this the oldest metal find in this section had been an 1892 barber dime. The area is certainly old enough for this to be in waterway.

Nice! Picture of the back?

 

[Gene Mean]

Great find!!

 

[RatherBeDigging]

Nice! Picture of the back?

Really rusty from the iron it was in with. Unfortunately no mounting hardware there.

 

[Bamasteve]

Outstanding find, congrats!

 

[E-Trac-Ohio]

A very nice find !

 

[Silvermonkey]

Don't really know where to begin on this because it's a wild story. I was in a section of waterway there had a lot of 20th century dumping and unfortunately a ton of iron bits. A detector isn't very helpful in this section, but I like to rearrange the rocks and burn up 9 volts and see what's hiding. I had just moved a rock and a mercury dime and captain midnight badge came out along with a lot of mud. Moved on to an rock partly in the bank that looked like it was there a long time. I was scooping out mud and iron bits and this brass rectangle appeared in the slop. Really assumed it was going to be yet another piece of the never ending copper scrap here. It was not. Until this the oldest metal find in this section had been an 1892 barber dime. The area is certainly old enough for this to be in waterway.

That is one crazy story RBD! It sure seems like your hard work and out-of-the-box thinking paid off. Congrats on a great find!

 

[RatherBeDigging]

That is one crazy story RBD! It sure seems like your hard work and out-of-the-box thinking paid off. Congrats on a great find!

Thank you. I don't always do things the conventional way. Built a plastic screen tray for certain water sites and unique rotating bucket sifter for dump spots on land. Its been called "innovative " to quote someone who saw it partly done. Ive dubbed it the Dual Size Artifact Discriminator ( DSAD-1) for short. Trying to finish the arms that drive the screen box this week so it can get out in the field over the weekend. It's not intended for long hikes to sites. I changed out the screen in this photo so it's not totally up to date. Toss in dirt, turn the crank. It oscillates the second screen once I get it's drive arms done. It does have legs but they aren't on in this photo. They get in the way of my tinkering on work bench.

 

[Silvermonkey]

Thank you. I don't always do things the conventional way. Built a plastic screen tray for certain water sites and unique rotating bucket sifter for dump spots on land. Its been called "innovative " to quote someone who saw it partly done. Ive dubbed it the Dual Size Artifact Discriminator ( DSAD-1) for short. Trying to finish the arms that drive the screen box this week so it can get out in the field over the weekend. It's not intended for long hikes to sites. I changed out the screen in this photo so it's not totally up to date. Toss in dirt, turn the crank. It oscillates the second screen once I get it's drive arms done. It does have legs but they aren't on in this photo. They get in the way of my tinkering on work bench.

"Innovative" is the right word. Pretty impressive!

 

[Mike N Tn.]

Congrats on a beautiful & rare belt plate! Outstanding!

 

[pepperj]

Congrats on the recovery, it kind if looks like it had been touched by a fire.
Your trummel looks interesting, best of luck on the weekend.
Those copper bits add up to $$$

 

[RatherBeDigging]

Congrats on the recovery, it kind if looks like it had been touched by a fire.
Your trummel looks interesting, best of luck on the weekend.
Those copper bits add up to $$$

A lot of items were coming out just off shore with various states of fire damage. A lot of items not fire damaged as well. They theory is the building above here was dumping their semi burnt trash and floor sweeping waste down the bank. Several plated brass spoons and forks have come out with the place's name and town embossed on them. Guess the plate could have been in their trash, but the most of buildings post date the belt plate by about 40 to 80 years. Late throw??

yeah the trummel is getting there. It is a lot to develop something with a lot of parts from zero.

 

[oldmxrat]

Very nice recovery, congrats!
I was toying with the idea of making a battery powered vibrator to attach to my screen boxes...