24 Civil War Buttons

[steelheadwill]

Greetings all,
Great weather lately here in New Hampshire
As you may know, I always keep my eyes open for out of place rock formations
on the flats of the tidal rivers.
In the past, some of these I've searched have been ballast piles from abandoned ships.
Had my eyes on this one for a while,
but put off searching it.
I got a good deep signal, dug a copper bracelet, a rescan of the hole indicated more targets, as I went deeper I encountered dense blue clay mixed with straw.
And buttons.
Eventually I moved stones and excavated a hole 4' X 2' and about 36" deep.
I made the large excavation after finding several buttons to avoid any damage to the remaining ones, understand that this was blind digging in a pit of muddy water.
End result was 19 'New Hampshire Volunteer Militia' buttons, (Tice NH 200A3)
and 1 General Service high convex, resembles Tice GS 226, is missing its back.
My first 'Muffin'
All but 2 of the NH buttons have intact shanks, and I see no reason why the rest won't clean up as well as these, I picked a random button to start.
5 hours of aluminum jelly and toothpicks yield 2 clean buttons.
Thanks to Buckleboy for resto advise
I believe there are more items at this site, tides limit search time.
I will update this post with new finds, and more cleaned examples.
I'm including a NH Militia Officer photo.
Thanks for looking, and Great Digs to You all.

 

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[Marchas45]

You earned that Banner my friend.

 

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[steelheadwill]

Hello Again,
Figured I'd add this photo of the first 8 buttons I brought home.
I am beat after this dig,
so I'll post todays finds tomorrow.
(my camera battery needs a charge anyway)
Boy am I gonna sleep good tonight
HH & Keep on Diggin'

 

[DANGLANGLEY]

Those are beautiful. Congratulations!!!

DANGLANGLEY

 

[Woodland Detectors]

Hello Again,
Figured I'd add this photo of the first 8 buttons I brought home.
I am beat after this dig,
so I'll post todays finds tomorrow.
(my camera battery needs a charge anyway)
Boy am I gonna sleep good tonight
HH & Keep on Diggin'

This fascinates me Herbie. The button numbers keep rising! Get a good night's rest buddy.

 

[KOOTNEY KID]

WOW!,24 pats on the back for you good sir
thats one heck of a haul wtg..

 

[CRUSADER]

Re: 23 Civil War Buttons

There has to be a full set of buttons there. The uniform would've held them all in one place together until it got covered by river silt. Keep at it. These are a beautiful set of finds.


Best Wishes,


Buckles

agreed.

nice recovery

 

[ModernMiner]

Outstanding Herbie! Congrats on a well deserved BANNER.
-MM-

 

[HISPAN]

Congrats Herbie !
I never found a whole jacket .... and above the buttons are beautiful.
I also vote BANNER!
H

 

[Deno]

That is amazing, congrats on the banner.

 

[DMN]

Re: 23 Civil War Buttons

Excuse the ignorance of this question but is the button brass with gilding? Looks like there is only brass on the buttons from the cleaned pics. Just asking for future reference. And thanks again for showing the find off. Can't say I've seen too many dug buttons in a group like this that didn't come off a string.

Just got home from a 6 hour dig to see my buttons up top
Wouldn't be there without all my Diggin' Pals help !
Would like to say Thank You to everyone again, I am at my 1 year MD'ing anniversary
And this banner is a very timely present
BTW, I heard a very familiar sound from the Etrac today,
I really knew it was going to be another from the tone,
Yes, another one recovered
This ones crust flaked right off without any resistance.
An even two dozen sounds better than 23.
Great Digs To All
DMN, yes all gilt perished from salt exposure, these are the best buttons you'll get on the flats, and I didn't see any string
Gold coins hold up better

SHW: Thanks for clarifying. Didn't realize the sea water would be so brutal to gold leaf! When I referred to string it was referencing the several postings where people here found buttons but they were all on a string because that was the way they sold them for the unifoms -- sets on a string, apparently. It's abundantly clear the buttons you found came right off a coat. Maybe some poor soul washed overboard or there was a wreck which took the sailor's goods back to the coast.

Seems to me if the coat floated to shore then other items may have come with it, too. You may have a few sets of buttons to find and possibly other relics (cap badges or buckles?) or coins which came with the objects that floated in! Would be a fantastic spot to do some serious digging. Search the whole stretch. Good luck!

 

[testing123]

Congrats on getting Banner! You certainly earn and deserve all of your finds! When we went together, it was certainly a lot harder than detecting nice, flat, trimmed-grass fields that I'm used to.

 

[AGCoinHunter]

Awesome finds! Congrats on the banner.

 

[steelheadwill]

Thanks Again to Everyone
yesterday was my first dig in a while that didn't turn up any NH buttons,
I believe 24 may be the total now.
I will post any new ones found, You never know
Best Wishes and Digs to All

 

[{Sentinel}]

Congratulations on the BANNER Herb! You have a full set of buttons for a double breasted frock coat or enough for a couple sack coats or shell jackets!! Great find and they look good up top!

 

[Nana40]

WoW!!!! What a great post!!! All those buttons are fantastic! And the cleaning tips are appreciated! Many congrats on all those finds!!!

Nana

 

[Brian W]

Awesome buttons the Herb...They look great on the banner... Congrats

 

[clovis97]

Nice finds!!!! Congrats on the banner!!!

I've often wondered how many jackets were still out there waiting to be discovered. You just found one of them!

I wonder if one of the ship's crew tossed the officer's jacket overboard, just to be mean or to get even. Makes you wonder, doesn't it?

 

[steelheadwill]

Agreed
every day we recover history and unearth mysteries

 

[gleaner1]

steelheadwill, congrats to you on a nice banner haul.

 

[Brian in MA]

Congrats on the Banner. Well deserved !!!

You have made some amazing finds in just one year of metal detecting. Makes you wonder what's in store down the road?

Keep at it !!

Brian in MA