Colonial Silver Knee Buckle, Capped Dime, Awesome LC, and more...

[OutdoorAdv]

Last weekend, I was able to get a full weekend of hunting in and it was great to spend a couple days outdoors finding some history. I had been having skunked water hunts the last month or so, so it was great to finally get my coil over a few keepers. I put in a lot of hours last weekend and was rewarded with a few really nice finds.... my favorite being something I always wanted to find, but never thought I would... a complete colonial SILVER knee buckle. And a close second was a well worn Capped Bust Dime with a date of 182? (something) and a really nice LC.



This buckle turned up after a day of spending 9 hours hunting with nothing but 1 flat button and a pack full of trash to show for my efforts. It was shaping up to be one of those days that TNet never hears about. And then this happened...



Finding a silver frame colonial buckle is something I had always wished would happen, so you all will have to excuse the amount of pictures that are about to follow... After the insitu picture above, I spent some time enjoy the find and taking pictures, before a little field cleaning with a bottle of water.




After 250+ years in the ground, the iron anchor chape, tongue and pin had deposited some areas of rust scale on top of the silver. Once home, I was able to remove most of the rust with a toothpick, however a few stubborn spots remain which I am leaving so I don't scratch the silver.



This is a "supermodel" of relics for me, so I had to do a photo shoot



I was really hoping there would be a makers mark or a hallmark... or any mark on it, but its blank. According to the Whitehead buckle book, if this is British made, it most likely falls between 1739 and 1790... I suppose it could also be American made as well. Either way, its most likely sometime in the second half of the 18th century.



Its been a good weekend of swinging when a Capped Bust Dime is your second best find. I don't dig much silver... in the 1000's of plugs I dig every year, I maybe see silver in them a few times. So it was a very rare event for me to dig two pieces of early silver in one weekend. This was a killer signal and when I popped the plug I saw a thin silver disk in the bottom of the hole. Because of how thin it was, I figured it was going to be a piece of Spanish. A field rinse with a water bottle revealed a well worn Capped Bust... which had me smiling for the rest of the day.



Once home, I gave it a better rinse. There is some light scratching on the reverse from the rocky soil it was in... probably caused when the dirt was moved around when I dug the plug. I can barely make out a 182? date on it... maybe a 4 or a 6. Funny thing, I still haven't dug a seated coin and this is my second capped silver, with the first being a half dollar a couple years ago.



And finally a beautiful 1833 LC.



And the three of my best find from the weekend.



Another interesting relic was this Smith's Bile Beans bottle that I found while digging. Its tiny and from the 1880s or 1890s and used to contain some laxative pills with a cork in the top.



A nice CW GS coat button turned up as well as the usual variety of flat buttons, tombac buttons and various relics.



There are a couple keeper iron relics that I don't have time to process just yet. Perhaps I will include them in a future post once everything is preserved.

Thanks for reading and happy hunting everyone.

 

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[OutdoorAdv]

Looks like you put in a lot of time, and were rewarded for your efforts. The silver knee buckle is lovely...and so our your other finds. Congratulations!

Thank you Silvermonkey! Between Sat with the capped dime & LC, and Sun with the buckle, I hunted about 20 hours. I was BEAT, but the effort was well worth it. I was so beat and sore, it took me a couple days to recover and get pictures and this post together

You did it again for putting some quality finds in the mitt. Congrats! Three winners and not sure which one I like the best.
Our tick population is down this year, but with so much rain they've probably drowned.

Thanks man... I kept hearing that ticks were worse on the East Coast because of the mild winter, but I haven't had much of a problem. Sometimes I think they just say that they're going to be bad to raise awareness about ticks and remind people to check themselves. I've been pre-treating all my hunting clothes with Permetharin this year and that stuff is incredible. While hunting this year, I have glanced down and seen 3 or 4 crawling up my pants. I'll actually stop to watch them... I let them crawl, or try to... and within 30 seconds or so they will fall to the ground in mid stride.

Awesome finds Brad! Silver buckle is high on my list for sure and early American Silver is always the best! Congrats

Thanks a ton Nick! Double silver in a weekend is a rarity for me.

Super finds, great story, and really enjoy those in-situ pictures. Congrats.

Thanks Mike... This was the original in-situ picture of the buckle and my vantage point when I first saw it... pretty crappy picture....



I was so excited to snatch it up, but I forced myself to take the time to move to the other side and take a proper picture... and man am I glad I did. I could stare at this buckle laying in the dirt all day.

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Thanks Casper

Superb recoveries. Thanks for the good pictures.

Thanks a ton Brad... It takes me forever to take good pictures and crop them... so its always nice to hear when someone appreciates that man.

-Brad

 

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[OutdoorAdv]

Let's BANNER this buckle. We never see complete silver buckle frames. I know how jealous I am of that thing. When I get a phone call for a find it usually deserves to be up top. This is no exception

Much appreciated buddy!

 

[OutdoorAdv]

Does anyone have an idea on this copper? Its in the group shot above the knee buckle. I can see something on it, but not enough to ID... its the size and thickness of a British half penny and probably is a KG.

Since I cant tell what it is, these pictures are not going to be oriented correctly.. I could be holding it upside-down or sideways... or upside-down and sideways. ha

 

[Scrappy]

Does anyone have an idea on this copper? Its in the group shot above the knee buckle. I can see something on it, but not enough to ID... its the size and thickness of a British half penny and probably is a KG.

Since I cant tell what it is, these pictures are not going to be oriented correctly.. I could be holding it upside-down or sideways... or upside-down and sideways. ha

View attachment 1474370

Well, it's British.

I always look for the wheel of Brittania's chariot for British ID's. Sure enough at 3:30 or 4 O'clock there's the wheel in the bottom left picture. See if you can orient it and then spin it 180 so we can see the reverse.

 

[btjbtj]

Brad--yowza!! We love everything. Would keel over if we found a large cent with that much detail. Great job. -Lisa & John

 

[Isaac]

Amazing silver knee buckle!!!!! Those are extremely hard to find. It's my dream to find one of them! Congratulations on those wonderful finds!

 

[doninbrewster]

Great finds. My kind of detecting. Have only found one silver knee buckle ever. Hallmarked to 1770-1790.

 

[OutdoorAdv]

Brad--yowza!! We love everything. Would keel over if we found a large cent with that much detail. Great job. -Lisa & John

Thank you Lisa! You guys will eventually find a copper in that condition. I have a few like this one but it takes digging a bunch of crusty ones to find a good one. Ha.

Amazing silver knee buckle!!!!! Those are extremely hard to find. It's my dream to find one of them! Congratulations on those wonderful finds!

Thanks a ton man . That buckle was a dream find for me too. There's nothing like seeing a relic like that laying in the plug... what a great feeling.

Great finds. My kind of detecting. Have only found one silver knee buckle ever. Hallmarked to 1770-1790.

Thanks Don! I really wish mine was hallmarked. I just went and found your silver buckle post.... REALLY nice one and the hallmark on it is awesome.

 

[OutdoorAdv]

Well, it's British.

I always look for the wheel of Brittania's chariot for British ID's. Sure enough at 3:30 or 4 O'clock there's the wheel in the bottom left picture. See if you can orient it and then spin it 180 so we can see the reverse.

I was able to look at this more closely today. I think you might be right about the wheel. I think your ID is right man. I really can't see anything else on it though.

 

[Silver Tree Chaser]

I enjoyed the details of your post. I also appreciate your sentiments on the challenge of finding silver. I also need to dig many, MANY holes before I catch a glimpse of old silver coming out of the ground. Solid silver buckles is certainly a milestone for detectorists who specialize in colonial period finds. Great work!

 

[birdman]

Love the colonial stuff!

 

[s.c.shooter]

Great finds

 

[metalev4]

Wow Brad! That silver knee buckle is one most of us only dream of. Incredible early find in stunning condition. Congrats on a killer piece of history. The bust dime is excellent as well and something I'm am still waiting to check off the list. Great hunt my friend.

 

[OutdoorAdv]

I finally got a few pieces of the keeper iron from this hunt preserved. One of the tack buckles still has some silver plating on it. Both of the axe heads are stamped GW Bradley which is always nice to find markings after electrolysis.





And the silver knee buckle and capped bust dime are in their final spots, at the top of a colonial brick podium, in one of my displays I had to make room, so they knocked a few finds down to lower levels... I can't imagine what sort of find could possibly kick them off the top of those bricks.

 

[OutdoorAdv]

I enjoyed the details of your post. I also appreciate your sentiments on the challenge of finding silver. I also need to dig many, MANY holes before I catch a glimpse of old silver coming out of the ground. Solid silver buckles is certainly a milestone for detectorists who specialize in colonial period finds. Great work!

Thanks a ton man! I guess its a lot harder finding it at the older sites too... I get excited for newer silver too. I dug a merc last month which was my first silver coin of the year. Now that the silver buckle is out of the way, man would I love to find a seal matrix

Love the colonial stuff!

Thanks Birdman... me too.

Great finds

Thank you SC Shooter!

Wow Brad! That silver knee buckle is one most of us only dream of. Incredible early find in stunning condition. Congrats on a killer piece of history. The bust dime is excellent as well and something I'm am still waiting to check off the list. Great hunt my friend.

Thanks a ton man I think I ruined all the surprises before you saw this post though. ha Great to see you're back and getting out finding some killer stuff. Hopefully that bust silver gets checked off the list one day soon.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

You east coast guys make me sick. SICK SICK SICK !

 

[OutdoorAdv]

You east coast guys make me sick. SICK SICK SICK !

Thanks Tom! But you guys have all the gold coins over there. haha

 

[Argentium]

I'm late to this party - Wow - what can i say that has not already been said , amazing finds !!

 

[Old Pueblo]

Really cool finds. I love the bottle. Those cork tops from back then always look good in a display case, especially one like that. And that colonial stuff is just great, you just cant find that stuff out West.

 

[birdman]

That knee buckle is to die for