I dug a foot-71th Regiment of Foot that is

DownNDirty · Jan 19, 2016

Had Monday off for the holiday so I made good use of the day and returned to the site where vmiairpwr07 and I had our marathon dig last Saturday. My back was still a little sore from hours of digging and sifting so I opted to leave the sifter home and just metal detect. This turned out to be a good decision.

The morning was really slow-a piece of melted lead here, part of a barrel band there; I began to second guess my decision to leave the sifter home. Then I got a deep signal & after a lot of digging pulled out what I thought was part of a sword blade-until I saw that it had a square piece of iron riveted to it. Dang!

After a 10 minute lunch break I got after it again and things started to improve. I dug a 13mm domed pewter button-a first for me. Ten minutes later I found half of a pewter coat button. Then a dropped 69 caliber musket ball plus a few other odds and ends.

Saturday Jon and I were talking about how the best finds usually come at the end of the day, and that is exactly what happened yesterday. I got a good signal then retrieved a fully intact pewter coat button with a tall iron shank. I put it in my bag, dug a dew more targets then called it a day.

Before hitting the road I cleaned the dirt off with water & saw that the button had scrolling around the edge. I emailed Jon and he quickly replied to tell me that it was a 71st Regiment of Foot (Fraser's Highlanders) coat button. This is my second British Rev War uniform button, both from this site. What an end to another good day!

Ahab8 · Jan 20, 2016

Iron Patch said:
Are you sure about that? 73rd is irrelevant not having served, and I would put the 71st as more common, unless you break it down into varieties because there is way more types for 71st than 74th. Off the top of my head the area that has produced the most 74ths I think is Castine Maine, but believe there was also 71st buttons dug there too. (would have to grab the book to be sure) But in general I think 71st shows up more at various locations... and I have even dug two of them myself. I think I need a 2nd cup of coffee because I almost forget about my own.

He heard ya the first time bro! Lol I will let ya know about the Regt buttons in Maine come spring. I plan on digging a few myself. I think 8 Rev War buttons is what I will shoot for in 2016. Might as well make it 8 1812s as well. Only 3 to go 8-)

Iron Patch · Jan 20, 2016

Ahab8 said:
He heard ya the first time bro! Lol I will let ya know about the Regt buttons in Maine come spring. I plan on digging a few myself. I think 8 Rev War buttons is what I will shoot for in 2016. Might as well make it 8 1812s as well. Only 3 to go

Funny that post when on no problem so it was the site that doubled it up and not me. Buckleboy doesn't have to hear things twice like you do... so I'll tell you again... you better turn it up for 2016 to have a chance!

I'm basically back to where I was last Winter, not having much for new ideas, and not a high degree of confidence it will be a good year, but there's no point in thinking about it because it's impossible to say how it will go. Just one very small piece of metal can make all the difference in the world. I do think you are going to have a very good year, but will it be good enough? I guess we will see.

hogge · Jan 20, 2016

Great button. Congrats on your second regiment find. Hogge

treblehunter · Jan 20, 2016

Very nice digs, congrats!

ctalmadg · Jan 20, 2016

DownNDirty said:
Any ideas what these might be? I found them close together on the site.

Yep.. those are "runners" from a gang mold similar to this..

DownNDirty · Jan 20, 2016

BuckleBoy said:
Good thing it wasn't the 73st Regiment or the 74nd. Those are much more common than the 71th.

The 71st saw a lot of action in the Southern Campaign, especially in South Carolina (where this one was found). But regardless it is pretty special to me.

Ahab8 · Jan 20, 2016

Iron Patch said:
Funny that post when on no problem so it was the site that doubled it up and not me. Buckleboy doesn't have to hear things twice like you do... so I'll tell you again... you better turn it up for 2016 to have a chance! I'm basically back to where I was last Winter, not having much for new ideas, and not a high degree of confidence it will be a good year, but there's no point in thinking about it because it's impossible to say how it will go. Just one very small piece of metal can make all the difference in the world. I do think you are going to have a very good year, but will it be good enough? I guess we will see.

The beauty of this hobby is that one hole can produce the find of a lifetime. I am excited now that I've had a little taste of early military buttons. It was encouraging that some of the pewters were in good shape. It makes me believe that if I do dig a rare one it could actually be in nice shape. Even the common ones will display nicely which is encouraging. Our bet just adds a bit on incentive which may get us to dig just one more hole which could be the killer find

Iron Patch · Jan 20, 2016

Ahab8 said:
The beauty of this hobby is that one hole can produce the find of a lifetime. I am excited now that I've had a little taste of early military buttons. It was encouraging that some of the pewters were in good shape. It makes me believe that if I do dig a rare one it could actually be in nice shape. Even the common ones will display nicely which is encouraging. Our bet just adds a bit on incentive which may get us to dig just one more hole which could be the killer find

For brass dug from the fields here it seems like a coin flip for condition, but pewter always suffers bad. Any site away from a farm field I think you have a much better shot at a nice pewter button. The thing is that real good one is not going to come along often so you really gotta hope it's the one time you get lucky with condition. But even so-so condition a rare Rev War button is a rare Rev War button!

Vino · Jan 20, 2016

Fantastic button!
Great research pay off.
Way to go.

DownNDirty · Jan 20, 2016

ctalmadg said:
Yep.. those are "runners" from a gang mold similar to this..

View attachment 1262703

Thanks ctalmadg. Do you know if those molds were used by civilians and military, or just one or the other?

ctalmadg · Jan 20, 2016

DownNDirty said:
Thanks ctalmadg. Do you know if those molds were used by civilians and military, or just one or the other?

Both

BuckleBoy · Jan 20, 2016

Iron Patch said:
Are you sure about that? 73rd is irrelevant not having served, and I would put the 71st as more common, unless you break it down into varieties because there is way more types for 71st than 74th. Off the top of my head the area that has produced the most 74ths I think is Castine Maine, but believe there was also 71st buttons dug there too. (would have to grab the book to be sure) But in general I think 71st shows up more at various locations... and I have even dug two of them myself. I think I need a 2nd cup of coffee because I almost forget about my own.

Hey buddy. Maybe you'll catch the joke and the original post title on the 2st or 3th reading? :laughing7: