Civil War Era Militia Sword Belt Buckle and Large Copper Coin (KGIII?)

NorILdigcollector

Sr. Member
Sep 23, 2015
265
1,145
Northern IL
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I went out to a new site today that is about 1/4 mile from another site in the same field that I have been finding a lot of early 1800s coins. I had just discovered this spot on the way back to my car a week ago so I decided to check it out today. The best find that I made was the belt buckle piece. It is broken but at least the best part is still there. I need to get back out to find the rest of it. I was pretty excited when I pulled the plug and saw the eagle staring back at me about 6" down. I thought the copper was junk at first until I started cleaning it and started to make out a head profile. I think it is a King George III penny from 1806-1808 which would make it my oldest coin yet. I have no idea how it ended up in a field in Illinois.
20220626_220709.jpg
20220626_220639.jpg
20220626_233136.jpg
20220626_234148.jpg
20220626_211516.jpg
 

Upvote 20

Digger RJ

Gold Member
Aug 24, 2017
19,313
33,446
SW Missouri/Oklahoma
🥇 Banner finds
1
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
2
Detector(s) used
Minelab CTX 3030; Minelab Equinox 800;
XP Deus 2
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I went out to a new site today that is about 1/4 mile from another site in the same field that I have been finding a lot of early 1800s coins. I had just discovered this spot on the way back to my car a week ago so I decided to check it out today. The best find that I made was the belt buckle piece. It is broken but at least the best part is still there. I need to get back out to find the rest of it. I was pretty excited when I pulled the plug and saw the eagle staring back at me about 6" down. I thought the copper was junk at first until I started cleaning it and started to make out a head profile. I think it is a King George III penny from 1806-1808 which would make it my oldest coin yet. I have no idea how it ended up in a field in Illinois. View attachment 2034120 View attachment 2034121 View attachment 2034122 View attachment 2034123 View attachment 2034124
Very Cool!!! Congrats!!!
 

Gare

Gold Member
Dec 30, 2012
7,366
13,876
Canton Ohio Area
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
2
Detector(s) used
Presently using Deus 2's & have Minelabs, Nokta's Tesoro's DEus's Have them all . Have WAY to many need to get rid of some
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Nice finds Nice Pictures Thanks for sharing. How did you find these spots ? Methods ?
 

OP
OP
NorILdigcollector

NorILdigcollector

Sr. Member
Sep 23, 2015
265
1,145
Northern IL
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Nice finds Nice Pictures Thanks for sharing. How did you find these spots ? Methods ?
I look at old maps that I find online and compare them to modern maps. Other than that it is a lot of footwork. Since the old maps are hand drawn, not everything lines up quite exactly with the modern maps and satellite imagery. Some of these sites very little to no physical evidence left, other than what is in the ground, since they have been plowed over for more than 100 years.
 

OP
OP
NorILdigcollector

NorILdigcollector

Sr. Member
Sep 23, 2015
265
1,145
Northern IL
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Tried cleaning up the coin and buckle piece a little more. From my research the buckle is a militia sword belt buckle dating to 1840-1855.
20220629_222750.jpg
 

Attachments

  • 20220629_065436.jpg
    20220629_065436.jpg
    581.1 KB · Views: 19

Gare

Gold Member
Dec 30, 2012
7,366
13,876
Canton Ohio Area
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
2
Detector(s) used
Presently using Deus 2's & have Minelabs, Nokta's Tesoro's DEus's Have them all . Have WAY to many need to get rid of some
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I look at old maps that I find online and compare them to modern maps. Other than that it is a lot of footwork. Since the old maps are hand drawn, not everything lines up quite exactly with the modern maps and satellite imagery. Some of these sites very little to no physical evidence left, other than what is in the ground, since they have been plowed over for more than 100 years.
Thanks for explaining. For me some times these work and some times they DON'T :(
 

Hunk-a-lead

Bronze Member
Dec 20, 2020
2,093
3,258
Kansas City
Detector(s) used
Nokta Legend, Predator Phoenix Shovel
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
I went out to a new site today that is about 1/4 mile from another site in the same field that I have been finding a lot of early 1800s coins. I had just discovered this spot on the way back to my car a week ago so I decided to check it out today. The best find that I made was the belt buckle piece. It is broken but at least the best part is still there. I need to get back out to find the rest of it. I was pretty excited when I pulled the plug and saw the eagle staring back at me about 6" down. I thought the copper was junk at first until I started cleaning it and started to make out a head profile. I think it is a King George III penny from 1806-1808 which would make it my oldest coin yet. I have no idea how it ended up in a field in Illinois. View attachment 2034120 View attachment 2034121 View attachment 2034122 View attachment 2034123 View attachment 2034124
great saves! really love that buckle
 

Merf

Silver Member
Jan 7, 2007
3,620
1,361
Northern Illinois
Detector(s) used
Whites XLT
Minelab vanquish, Quest x10 pro
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I went out to a new site today that is about 1/4 mile from another site in the same field that I have been finding a lot of early 1800s coins. I had just discovered this spot on the way back to my car a week ago so I decided to check it out today. The best find that I made was the belt buckle piece. It is broken but at least the best part is still there. I need to get back out to find the rest of it. I was pretty excited when I pulled the plug and saw the eagle staring back at me about 6" down. I thought the copper was junk at first until I started cleaning it and started to make out a head profile. I think it is a King George III penny from 1806-1808 which would make it my oldest coin yet. I have no idea how it ended up in a field in Illinois. View attachment 2034120 View attachment 2034121 View attachment 2034122 View attachment 2034123 View attachment 2034124
Nice finds. Congrats
 

Top Member Reactions

Users who are viewing this thread

Latest Discussions

Top