Colonial buckles bonanza from under the snow.

[Aureus]

As I packed my detecting equipment for the long winter ahead something absolutely crazy happened... We had a very strong winter rain (which in it self is abnormal) followed by a couple of days of mild weather. It gave the ground just enough time to thaw and gave me an opportunity to go on a hunt in the first week of January. For Quebec it's absolutely mind blowing as we rarely get the chance to detect past the early December.

I decided to explore the spot where I found some Fur Trade items a month or so ago. It's a large area but the finds are pretty rare, the big advantage it has is an almost complete absence of modern trash (other than an occasional shotgun shell). Not expecting much I chose to check some new patches of land that were previously hidden by the thick vegetation. The results were more than satisfying as I have managed to find some very cool relics.

Within an hour or so, found two shoe buckles in the same hole. One of them appears to be made of brass and the other one of some type of pewter mix. Both are from late 1700's and both have the iron mechanism still intact. A few feet away found my best preserved musket sling buckle.



After the restoration, all three look absolutely great. The brass shoe buckle is completely functional with the moving iron mechanism.







Twenty feet away, got an other type of musket sling buckle and a carved bone handle pocket knife.



Than a heart breaker...a partial neck stock clasp.



Continued to explore the same area and found an other patch littered with musket balls. After digging a few dozens of them got a beautiful bronze cross, rosary ring and 1813 Spread Eagle Halfpenny







Also got a few pieces of clay pipe, cufflink, gold plated pocket watch winder and an awl.



Very glad with the results. Not sure if I just closed my 2019 season or opened the new one.

Happy New Year everyone!

Thanks for the comments.

 

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[Aureus]

Those are some outstanding finds. You do such a great job with preservation too - I wish I had that talent. Happy hunting!

Thanks lenmac65.
The gentle soil where I've found them surely helps with the condition of the relics.

 

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[CASPER-2]

 

[Silver Tree Chaser]

That was a very productive detecting trip. Awesome to find some many great buckles.

 

[villival]

Aureus, do you know what type of metal the neck stock clasp is?

 

[Fullstock]

Wow!

 

[Aureus]

Awesome hunt! Hey, what would you roughly date that first musket sling buckle? I found a very similar one down here in SC.

Thanks
I would say late 1700's to early 1800's

 

[Westfront]

A great day you had!

 

[Aureus]

Aureus, do you know what type of metal the neck stock clasp is?

I'm not sure. Some silver colored heavy type of metal, I suspect some type of tombac.

 

[A2coins]

Well worth it snow wouldnt stop me if there were relics like that to be found a blow torch and some long Johns and Im ripping History outta the ice lol Great job on some really cool finds.

 

[Silvermonkey]

WOW!!!!! What a remarkable collection of finds. I love finding shoe buckles, and you, sir, came across some beauties! Congratulations.

 

[Aureus]

Killer relics, congrats!

Thanks PoE

 

[Whatdayagot]

Beauties!! Congrats

 

[xcopperstax]

Aureus thanks for posting these excited new finds! As usual your post did not disappoint with some incredibly nice fancy buckles! Can you talk about the "restoration" that you did on these? I'm curious what you did to achieve such nice looking buckles? I just found a nice buckle and I'm not sure what I can do to it other than use a toothpick on it.

 

[Aureus]

Thanks xcopperstax. The ground helps a lot with the relics or coins look. But what I usually do is dry the relic completely and remove the soil (absolutely no water). Give the copper relic a good peroxide bath. Than dry it again for 10 min and work to remove any clay or soil with a tooth pic or Andre's pencil. Than cold peroxide bath again and repeat the process until everything except patina is removed from the surface. After that, if the surface isn't too porous due to the corrosion, apply a thin layer of Renaissance wax, let dry and gently polish with a cotton cloth. Repeat waxing if needed, but always use very thin layers.

 

[grasshopper]

Awesome!!!

 

[Aureus]

That was a very productive detecting trip. Awesome to find some many great buckles.

For sure,I rarely find any complete ones. To find two on a same hunt is something I'm not used to.

 

[xcopperstax]

Ah thank you for the advice!!! I'll give it a try on my buckle and see how it comes out!

 

[Goldiver]

Amazing group of relics! I love the patina on your brass finds, must be some nice soil! I'm looking forward to seeing what you dig there next.

Steve

 

[washingtonian]

Amazing old finds. We are not worthy!!

 

[Aureus]

A great day you had!

It was. Very unexpected too for this late in the season. The latest I have ever detected before was around the 20th of December.