British SWORD guard/pewter - Coastal SC relic hunt

Patriot Relics

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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,

Was finally able to get out this past week and take advantage of an ultra low negative tides. Put the NOX (beach 2) and CTX to battle in some very mineralized black coastal mud to compare the two machines side by side. Both produced keepers, but it seems I'm not retiring the CTX anytime soon. The best finds of the week were both British relics from the Revolutionary War. The NOX takes the win with a killer 18th century, British sword guard.

Here's what it looked like fresh from the pluff mud

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After a long soak in mineral oil, and a bit of toothpicking, most of the black crust slipped off. Here's the cleaned up pictures and a matching British example

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Once I had cleared the area with the NOX, I broke out the CTX and swung the same lines...she missed one. This pewter came in strong and deep at around 9 inches. It's definitively a British enlisted cuff, but other than the pie crust it's impossible to name the regiment. These rev pewters are the reason I detect so in any condition I'm thrilled.

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Not far from the pewter, got another slamming 12-34 and out pops a 17th century heavy brass 2 piece. Fairly certain the top is solid brass as it's as heavy as a musket ball

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Here's my favorite relics for the week

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Did recover quite a bit of colonial as well, although the salt is brutal on copper and brass

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Shoe buckle frame

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Pewter spoon handles

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Key/furniture hardware and lock covers

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Interesting plate/boss and reins guide

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Trapezoid buckle

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Lots of musketballs

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This 1772 KGIII was a nice surprise as I rarely find coppers. Just inland from the water otherwise it would certainly be a shiny slug like the flat buttons.

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Surface finds - Native American pottery, pipe stems, and partial Charleston distillery bottle

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That about covers the spread, sword guard, pewter rev button, and a 1772 KGIII...not to shabby with 2 machines. Final thoughts on the NOX 800- major advantage is the weight. It is significantly lighter than its big brother and does have nice target separation. On highly mineralized soil though (the coastal sites I hunt) it doesn't hold a candle to the CTX on deep low conductive targets. Much like my Deus...even with the HF coil, would not perform well in these conditions. The NOX will still have it's place for endurance hunts and on heavy iron, but for me I'm going to keep my Deus for inland hunt and my CTX for the coast. As always good luck out there and thanks for looking.

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Upvote 38
Wow! that’s a major haul of nice relics. Love that sword guard. Nice work. My back hurts just thinking of all the digging but well worth it. Thanks for all the info on the 3 machines. Take care and well done. Congrats!!!
 

Fantastic hunt man! The sword guard piece is awesome :occasion14: Nice to see the nox getting some of those salt pluff mud finds... I'm still waiting on the wp headphones to get in the river with mine.
 

Soooooo this is what you were digging while i was stuck in the pluff for 30 minutes?! too bad you weren't on the same coast site, you would have gotten a good laugh in watching my crawl in the mud. Great finds! Im digging tomorrow for sure!
 

Congrats Jon on your Brit sword guard and other cool finds. I always like to see what you find next from those muddy adventures!
 

Absolutely killer finds! I also have both the NOX 800 and CTX and love them both. Was just on a BLM pit project up in Yreka Calif for a week and the NOX worked well at the sites we hit. Place was loaded with old square nails. My NOX sounded like a machine gun going over all those nails:laughing7: Congrats on your finds! :thumbsup:

Thanks, no doubt the 800 has it's place on iron with deus like target separation, but as an owner of all 3, I'll keep the Deus inland
 

Congrats again for finding the sword plate, Jon-it really cleaned up well. That round button also looks good after the cleaning, and the coin is in exceptional shape. Had a lot of fun getting muddy Saturday-let's do it again soon.

For sure, thanks Glenn
 

Great finds Jon! Nice site for sure. Love the KGII and the sword guard as well as the pottery.
 

Wow! that’s a major haul of nice relics. Love that sword guard. Nice work. My back hurts just thinking of all the digging but well worth it. Thanks for all the info on the 3 machines. Take care and well done. Congrats!!!

Yea, a detector for every condition haha
 

Amazing, you guys kill it along the SC coast!! --JB
 

Fantastic hunt man! The sword guard piece is awesome :occasion14: Nice to see the nox getting some of those salt pluff mud finds... I'm still waiting on the wp headphones to get in the river with mine.

Thanks Brad, hitting mostly waist deep stuff so the stock phones have worked fine so far
 

Soooooo this is what you were digging while i was stuck in the pluff for 30 minutes?! too bad you weren't on the same coast site, you would have gotten a good laugh in watching my crawl in the mud. Great finds! Im digging tomorrow for sure!

Yea wish I could have seen that hah comes with the territory
 

Congrats Jon on your Brit sword guard and other cool finds. I always like to see what you find next from those muddy adventures!

Thanks Keith, it's tough recovering targets in the muck but something always turns up
 

Great hunt buddy. I know you work hard for these killer finds. That sword guard is really cool.
 

Great hunt buddy. I know you work hard for these killer finds. That sword guard is really cool.

Thanks Abe, wish I had dug the other half as it would likely have been marked with the regiment...regardless looks great with the other regimental pewters!
 

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