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Early Colonial-Period Finds - 1600s Baldric Buckle Frag., Silver Dutch Coin, Buttons

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Early Colonial-Period Finds - 1600's Baldric Buckle Frag., Silver Dutch Coin, Buttons

This is a catch-up post, as I haven't posted any of my more interesting finds over the past two months. I’ve got a good find from last week to post on the forum soon, but I wanted to cover some earlier recoveries. Please let me know of any suggestions or thoughts on identification of finds, especially if I'm mistaken. I confused a broken downspout bracket with a matchlock musket rest due to my wishful thinking several years back!!! :dontknow:

Here’s a rundown –

soldier-17th-century-buckle.webp
This 17th Century soldier wears a wide baldric buckle for his sword. Baldrics were worn for carrying swords or trumpets.

P7220161.webp
I believe I found a mid-to-late 17th Century baldric buckle. The center bar is too long for a shoe buckle, and it's far too big for a spur buckle. If it's a baldric, the broken condition is a bit of a let down - a bitter sweet find.

P7220160.webp
Another 17th Century buckle fragment - horse harness - I found an exact match on a UK website. Plowing destroyed a lot of finds in this particular field.

P8030231.webp
Jaw Harp & a cone or acorn knop spoon handle end. It appears that the spoon handle was possibly modified for use as a pipe tamper.

P9150006_01.webp
There's not much left to this spoon bowl, but I like the decorative design which dates back to the 1600's - very unusual. It was found with the early buckle frags.

Pewter-spoon-b-sides.webp
Here is a complete specimen that I found online from an excavation at London Bridge.

P7220158.webp
Here's a 1789 cut silver coin. It believe that it's a Dutch coin of low-grade silver - billon.

P7220159.webp
Other side of the coin

PA100049.webp
I got another early artillery button at this site. Almost everything posted here is from one site.

PA100050.webp
Here's the best buttons from this site. Sorry - some of these was already shown a while back.

P7180155.webp
This appears to be a very early pewter button.

P7180152.webp
I like the gilt on this cufflink, but you have not seen anything yet!!!

PA100052.webp
This is my first early fob seal holder. Too bad it's missing the seal. I even sifted the dirt for the seal, hoping to get lucky.

PA100059.webp
Here's a growing pile of the remaining buttons, musket balls, etc. from a single field. It's quite a site, though it's not yet produced a single Spanish silver coin. I began working the site early in year, mostly the spring, but progress has slowed to a crawl due to very hard, dry soil. I'm up to 35 coppers at this one field. There's got to be some good silver coins out there somewhere.


Good Hunting to All
 
Last edited:
Upvote 16
Very nice collection of finds.:hello2:

I don't think the wide bar can rule out a shoe buckle, specially as there are so many sizes. Although I do believe it looks 17th C when the shoe buckles were much smaller than the 18th C types, so its unlikely to be a 17th C shoe buckle on that basis. Without some research I'm unfamilar with this type, I think you should keep looking for a match.

The bent over 'spoon handle' as you say, is actually a broken clothes/utensil hook that has been bent (after a break at the end) so as to still be functional as a hook. Similar to the one below:
UK Finds Database - - - UKDFD

Crusader:

Thanks for the correction on the clothes/utensil hook. I definitely want to "weed out" and misidentified finds. I haven't been able to find a match for the wide buckle, and I've checked some of the UK websites already. It's an interesting find for me, as it was recovered at a site that has an important connection with King Philip's War, New England's big war between the English and the Native Indians from 1675-1676.
 
Crusader:

Thanks for the correction on the clothes/utensil hook. I definitely want to "weed out" and misidentified finds. I haven't been able to find a match for the wide buckle, and I've checked some of the UK websites already. It's an interesting find for me, as it was recovered at a site that has an important connection with King Philip's War, New England's big war between the English and the Native Indians from 1675-1676.
This one is very similar UK Finds Database - - - UKDFD

SS
 
Nice early relics. You are on a good site
 

Silver Searcher - Yes, that example is very close in style, but it would appear that the horizontal bars (viewing the buckle lengthwise) would be for use with a narrow leather strap. Thanks for the reply, and if you have any other comparisons, PLEASE post them. There's is a terrific story behind this site, but there are still many pieces of the puzzle to put in place.
 
Last edited:
Silver Searcher - Yes, that example is very close in style, but it would appear the pair of horizontal bars (viewing the buckle lengthwise) would be for use with a narrow leather strap. Thanks for the reply, and if you have any other comparisons, PLEASE post them. There's is a terrific story behind this site, but there are still many pieces of the puzzle to put in place.
Yes I did realise that, your buckle is definitely functional and decorative, meant to be used and seen.

SS
 
Love the early stuff man! Killer finds

Dan

This is a catch-up post, as I haven't posted any of my more interesting finds over the past two months. I’ve got a good find from last week to post on the forum soon, but I wanted to cover some earlier recoveries. Please let me know of any suggestions or thoughts on identification of finds, especially if I'm mistaken. I confused a broken downspout bracket with a matchlock musket rest due to my wishful thinking several years back!!! :dontknow:

Here’s a rundown –

View attachment 878971
This 17th Century soldier wears a wide baldric buckle for his sword. Baldrics were worn for carrying swords or trumpets.

View attachment 878991
I believe I found a mid-to-late 17th Century baldric buckle. The center bar is too long for a shoe buckle, and it's far too big for a spur buckle. If it's a baldric, the broken condition is a bit of a let down - a bitter sweet find.

View attachment 878977
Another 17th Century buckle fragment - horse harness - I found an exact match on a UK website. Plowing destroyed a lot of finds in this particular field.

View attachment 878990
Jaw Harp & a cone or acorn knop spoon handle end. It appears that the spoon handle was possibly modified for use as a pipe tamper.

View attachment 878989
There's not much left to this spoon bowl, but I like the decorative design which dates back to the 1600's - very unusual. It was found with the early buckle frags.

View attachment 878994
Here is a complete specimen that I found online from an excavation at London Bridge.

View attachment 878979
Here's a 1789 cut silver coin. It believe that it's a Dutch coin of low-grade silver - billon.

View attachment 878978
Other side of the coin

View attachment 878988
I got another early artillery button at this site. Almost everything posted here is from one site.

View attachment 878987
Here's the best buttons from this site. Sorry - some of these was already shown a while back.

View attachment 878980
This appears to be a very early pewter button.

View attachment 878981
I like the gilt on this cufflink, but you have not seen anything yet!!!

View attachment 878974
This is my first early fob seal holder. Too bad it's missing the seal. I even sifted the dirt for the seal, hoping to get lucky.

View attachment 878995
Here's a growing pile of the remaining buttons, musket balls, etc. from a single field. It's quite a site, though it's not yet produced a single Spanish silver coin. I began working the site early in year, mostly the spring, but progress has slowed to a crawl due to very hard, dry soil. I'm up to 35 coppers at this one field. There's got to be some good silver coins out there somewhere.


Good Hunting to All
 

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