Buttons and maybe my second civil war bullet

borntohunt460 · Mar 22, 2014

Detecting places that others had beat to death was the tone of today. Also asked permission at a couple houses and got completely shot down based on their experience with detectorists in the past.

Found a few buttons though. One has what looks like a whole lot of gold gilt under the dirt. Will rinsing it off with water before I get some naval jelly hurt it in any way?

I also found what looks and feels like a long,minie ball. Is it even a bullet or a different kind? I found a fired minie ball in this same yard so what do you all think? I put the bottle cap in the pic for size. It also has the cavity in the base shown in the other picture.

After watching some nuggetnoggin YouTube videos I figured I'd give woods hunting a try and is where I started today. It was a complete bust other than the Pepsi cola bottle surface find. Really wish it was whole

Thanks for looking and reading !!!

AQUA · Mar 22, 2014

Sounds like you got an area where others have disrespected owners land...not good.

That PEPSI bottle looks really old.

Use warm water and little bit of soap ....gentle rub with your fingers under the light running water..should be just fine.

TheCannonballGuy · Mar 22, 2014

The bullet appears to be a Confederate-made .54-caliber "long-model" Enfield-pattern minie. We need precise measurements of its length and main-body diameter. (The base of yours looks damaged, so you'll need to measure the diameter a teeny bit above the damage.) An unfired .54-caliber minie's diameter is about .515-inch to .533-inch.

What state and town did you find it at?

The button appears to be a brass 1-piece "flatbutton." Many were goldplated. Depending on whether is has no lettering on the back, or raised lettering, or indented lettering, they date from the second half of the 1700s through the early-1840s.

You asked about cleaning it:
1- clean it with water
2- soak it in a 50/50 solution of water and plain ammonia for three minutes
3- dip an old soft-bristle toothbrush into the ammonia and GENTLY scrub the button
4- if necessary, you can re-soak the button for a couple more minutes
5- rinse the button thoroughly.