Carlos III cuff links, NY "Excelsior" button, Religious medal and more...

[OutdoorAdv]

I took a personal day off work yesterday to enjoy detecting on a prefect spring day. It's so much nicer than being out there when its 25 degrees and I have 5 layers on and hand warmers in my gloves.

I've found that the first couple hours is the most productive for me when I'm trying to listen to the faint signals in the trash pit that is void of nonferrous signals. I think that's because I'm not mentally fatigued from all the chatter yet. Well we had some good rain since I was last at this site a couple weeks ago and not but a few feet from where I dug the 2 Excelsior buttons, I got the coil just right to hear a few more signals.

In one plug I found 4 "buttons" and the weird lead thing that looks like a smiley face. The first "button" out of the plug had a shield on it... I immediately thought "no way is this another real cuff link" (I found a pillars and globe link at a different site a couple weeks ago), then a tombac and then another of the same "buttons" with the shield, finally a flat button and the lead thing. A couple feet away was the 3rd Excelsior button from this site all within a small area. I am pretty sure there is more down there. I will be returning to sift this section... based on the number of buttons from this small area in the last couple hunts, I think there is more down there.

Some NICE forged nails turned up with 3 rose heads in the same plug. A cool religious medal also turned up (still researching it). A 3 ringer, some others odds and ends and a big piece of a bell was in the pit in an area I haven't sifted yet.... very deep and found it digging some big iron and using my pin pointer.







These links are the Carlos III type according to Patriotic & Commemorative Buttons They are actually miniature 8 reales and both shanks are intact. A big wish of mine is to find a connected pair of links one day. It makes me wonder how these got detached with the shanks intact. Perhaps they were also used as cuff buttons instead of links? I was very excited to see these turn up and pretty blown away to find a different style, at a different site, since I didn't even know they existed prior to the pillars and column link from a couple weeks ago.




The Excelsior button fell apart before I touched it. Of the three from this spot, the two with more gilt were found detached. After receiving great information from my previous excelsior post, I glued this one back together.




All three of them back together (new one far right). Does anyone know how many would be on a coat? After finding these three in one area it makes me think there might be the rest of them.




Edit: Thanks to Bramblefind, I got an accurate identification on the religious medal. Its Italian devotional medal for St. Domenico. It reads "Roma" for Rome. Here is a link to another one http://metaldetectoritalia.forumfree.it/?t=70614005

I finally had some time to research this medal and it has become my favorite find from the hunt. It appears to be a Catholic medal for good health.

On the front is San (Staint) Domenico. Hes holding a horseshoe in one hand and a tooth in the other. Some background on it is "Domenico was in Cocullo Italy for a short time, and left to the local church one molar tooth and the horseshoe of his female mule, which are still preserved in the church with great devotion. The horseshoe has healing power against animal bites, the tooth on those bitten by poisonous snakes." So respectively, on the side he is holding the tooth, there is a snake at his feet, and on the side he is holding the horseshoe, there is an animal at his feet. http://www.italyheritage.com/magazine/2001_04/0104_l.htm

On the back is "Our Lady of Sorrows" who is the Virgin Mary with 7 daggers sticking in her chest. In the small text under her it says "Roma" (aka: Rome) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Lady_of_Sorrows

Still no idea on age, but based on this site 95% of the finds fall between 1750 and 1860... my best guess on this medal is probably the mid 1800's, although it would be cool if it was earlier!



I typically don't find this many rose heads on a single hunt. Usually its a handful of square nails for one rose head. Yesterday I got 3 really nice rose heads in one hole all in the pit area. I've seen people post them on here and think they are copper because of the lack of corrosion and how the sound off when in the dirt. I can't explain why rose heads seem to come out in better condition than other nails, but they are indeed iron, and I find many that don't have much corrosion. Here are the 6 from yesterday after tumbling for a few hours. The head on one looks spotless and is by far the nicest condition one yet. I dug about 100 square nails yesterday... all being tumbled now (there are one or two more rose heads in the tumbler too)




Any ideas on this one? It was in the hole with the links. It looks like it was cast... perhaps a button? I think the smiley face is just a coincidence



The first target from yesterday turned out to be this rather old button. It has a nice design on it and I was lucky enough to see the broken shank in the dirt embedded in the back of it.



Edit: Almost forgot... the rivet is one of the anchor rivets. I believe this is my 3rd one with an anchor on it in the 6+ years I've been detecting.... they're almost always blank.



Thanks for looking and good luck swinging before the grass grows too tall

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

Treasure of Victoria Peak - Grab it through Amazon!

[johnnyblaze]

Thanks man! Pretty awesome isn't it. I wonder if a skilled blacksmith would make two at once so there was no down time waiting for the iron to heat back up. It looked like it took 3 heats to make one nail, so if he wasnt working on two at once, he would be twiddling his thumbs.

There was a Colonial nail factory near my house that actually had a dam so i feel they used some kind of water wheel process to turn them out faster..
Now i see why Thomas Jefferson had a nail factory at Monticello!It's in a documentary i have on him..

~Blaze

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

Agony and Death on a Gold Rush Steamer: The Disastrous Sinking of the Side-Wheeler Yankee Blade - Grab it through Amazon!

[hogge]

I would guess the pewter button with the anchor would be Rev War American. Great find! Hogge

 

[Steve in PA]

Nice finds Brad! Congrats on the two Spanish coin buttons/cuff links. I like to preserve those rose head nails when I find them in good condition. They usually have to be in a fire which seems to temper them against corrosion.

 

[Bramblefind]

Super finds! The medal is actually an Italian devotional medal for St. Domenico. It reads "Roma" for Rome.

Here is another like it:

Un paio di trofei..

And more about San Domenico - this medal may have been used by someone with a toothache. Also for protection against animal and snake bites.

St. Dominick in Abruzzo

 

[johnnyblaze]

This is how the water was used it's a pretty cool vid the pulleys and everything are amazing!
But i can't stand Bob Villa..


~Blaze

 

[OutdoorAdv]

I would guess the pewter button with the anchor would be Rev War American. Great find! Hogge

Thanks Hogge! Its really tough to tell in the picture, but I think the anchor thing is a rivet. I found two anchor rivets years and years ago at a different site. I just went in some old displays and found one of the other ones. I'd love some early military buttons to turn up at this place.

Here is one I found a long time ago.

Nice finds Brad! Congrats on the two Spanish coin buttons/cuff links. I like to preserve those rose head nails when I find them in good condition. They usually have to be in a fire which seems to temper them against corrosion.

Thanks a ton Steve! Interesting about the fire thing. Crazy how some come out with minor surface rust looking like a hammer that's left overnight in one rain storm... then others are so pitted you cant even tell they were nails. haha

 

[OutdoorAdv]

Super finds! The medal is actually an Italian devotional medal for St. Domenico. It reads "Roma" for Rome.

Here is another like it:

Un paio di trofei..

And more about San Domenico - this medal may have been used by someone with a toothache. Also for protection against animal and snake bites.

St. Dominick in Abruzzo

OH MAN... I'm very pleased that this is European... this just made my night. So it might have some age to it after all. Thanks a ton Bramblefind, the one in that link looks just like mine. I just took another look at mine and I can totally see how it says "Roma" and not "Rama" Thats a ton of great information on those links. Thanks again.

Brad

 

[OutdoorAdv]

This is how the water was used it's a pretty cool vid the pulleys and everything are amazing!
But i can't stand Bob Villa..


~Blaze

Those machines are really awesome. They would have made the Type A and Type B cut nails (square nails) and it amazes me that they built those around 1800. Way faster than the hand forged rose head nails! (hand wrought)



I pulled some out of my tumbler and I actually found an example of all three types yesterday. Typically I find rose heads and the type B cut nails... but for whatever reason I find much less of the type A cut nails. I was surprised to see one that was necked down at the top like the type A. Check out the type b square nail... it looks brand new after a day in the tumbler.

 

[Z.K.]

Your love of history shines through this post. A pleasure to read sitting by a fire after a tough week and 5 hours of driving today. Thanks for the work you put into not just sharing these finds, but educating.

that video = blacksmith poetry.

 

[Professor of Engineering]

Awesome productive hunt, Congratualtions!

 

[Gridwalker306]

Stellar hunt, very impressive finds.

I'm also impressed with the nail video. What a lot of work for a humble nail!

 

[OutdoorAdv]

Your love of history shines through this post. A pleasure to read sitting by a fire after a tough week and 5 hours of driving today. Thanks for the work you put into not just sharing these finds, but educating.

that video = blacksmith poetry.

Thanks a ton Ken... I got sucked down the youtube wormhole watching that blacksmiths videos... I came back to reality an hour later and couldn't believe the stuff that guy can make. He was really talented and I even watched him make the nail head die that he used to make the nail... he actually made most of the tools he uses.

Thanks for the great compliment on my post Ken. I don't keep journals of my hunts like a lot of people do, so I try to put a lot of information in my posts so I can remember the hunts later.

Awesome productive hunt, Congratualtions!

Thank you Professor of Engineering!

Stellar hunt, very impressive finds.

I'm also impressed with the nail video. What a lot of work for a humble nail!

Thanks Mike! Gotta love something you can see blacksmith hammer marks on still

 

[OutdoorAdv]

I finally had a minute to sit down and read through the information about this religious medal. Thanks to Bramblefind for pointing me in the right direction on that. Its not a Hindu medal, but actually a Catholic medal for Good Health. I update the original post with this information, but here it is for anyone interested. I really like this medal a lot now that I know what it is.

On the front is San (Staint) Domenico. Hes holding a horseshoe in one hand and a tooth in the other. Some background on it is "Domenico was in Cocullo Italy for a short time, and left to the local church one molar tooth and the horseshoe of his female mule, which are still preserved in the church with great devotion. The horseshoe has healing power against animal bites, the tooth on those bitten by poisonous snakes." So respectively, on the side he is holding the tooth, there is a snake at his feet, and on the side he is holding the horseshoe, there is an animal at his feet. http://www.italyheritage.com/magazine/2001_04/0104_l.htm

On the back is "Our Lady of Sorrows" who is the Virgin Mary with 7 daggers sticking in her chest. In the small text under her it says "Roma" (aka: Rome) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Lady_of_Sorrows

Still no idea on age, but based on this site 95% of the finds fall between 1750 and 1860... my best guess on this medal is probably the mid 1800's.

 

[sutphin]

FINE LOOKING 1700S ROSE HEAD NAILS. MAN YOU GOT SOME FINE RELICS AND ONE HELL OF A SPOT TO DETECT ..

 

[villagenut]

Gotta say, I am a big fan of those nails even though you find many amazing artifacts. Early hand wrought nails were forged with very low amounts of Carbon, according to this info in this link, about 3 to 4 percent. This makes these early nails more resistant to corrosion. They sure don't make things like they used to.

https://www.realorrepro.com/article/Nails-as-clues-to-age

 

[Jyverb64]

Love the NY buttons and the killer cufflinks, it looks like you really nailed it, sorry couldn't resist, congrats

 

[OutdoorAdv]

FINE LOOKING 1700S ROSE HEAD NAILS. MAN YOU GOT SOME FINE RELICS AND ONE HELL OF A SPOT TO DETECT ..

Thank you Sutphin! Glad you like the nails man... Its been a lot of fun saving all this history.

Gotta say, I am a big fan of those nails even though you find many amazing artifacts. Early hand wrought nails were forged with very low amounts of Carbon, according to this info in this link, about 3 to 4 percent. This makes these early nails more resistant to corrosion. They sure don't make things like they used to.

https://www.realorrepro.com/article/Nails-as-clues-to-age

WOW, that link was awesome. I really like that everyone is so into the nails. They are some of my favorites and since I tumble all the nails, I typically put the rose heads in my pouch with all the other nails and iron. However, the rose heads from this trip were in such good condition, I actually cracked open my case and put them in a compartment so they wouldn't get mixed in with the rest.

Here are some of the rose heads in the display from this site. They are laid around the colonial section and really look good... it takes a while to process all these, but they really are cool relics.

Love the NY buttons and the killer cufflinks, it looks like you really nailed it, sorry couldn't resist, congrats

Nailed it!! ha Thanks Jyverb64! Again, really awesome that everyone likes the nails so much. I don't always include them in my posts... I dig LOTS of nails each trip, and always find a couple rose heads.

 

[mangum]

Great post! I love the cufflinks! It's amazing that you found the pair, congrats

 

[OutdoorAdv]

Great post! I love the cufflinks! It's amazing that you found the pair, congrats

Thank you mangum! I considered that maybe they were used as buttons on a discarded piece of clothing.... or they had an iron wire link. While it seems possible the wire link broke and they both fell in a tiny area, it just doesn't seem probable... I feel like one of the cuff links would be stuck in the sleeve for a few steps at least!

 

[SirWalterRaleigh]

Great finds there friend! I love it all, especially the religious medal as I also just found last week, a Virgin Mary immaculate conception

I also love your Excelsior button. Hope you find the rest. I've only still found the one at my site. Picture is in my gallery