IRON BRIGADE = 1859 Fatty + General Staff Button and More!

[BuckleBoy]

Hello All,

Went out today to hit a new spot. Rodeo Recon, Digger Girl and Buckles were on deck for the hunt. The farmer was kind (although he insisted that there was never a house on the spot in his hay field we wanted to hunt). LOL. He bought the property in 1951--so he thought we were nuts, but said to go ahead.

So we got out there and the very first signal Yours Truly dug was this crusty button which I *suspected* at the time was a fertilizer-destroyed General Staff Officer's button. It was actually much nicer than anticipated! The backmark is "Steele & Johnson" Here are the before and after photos. (Aluminum Jelly and about an hour of delicate work required):





After another two flat buttons, Digger Girl came running over with the only coin for the day--an 1859 Fatty IH I've found a few CN IH's over the years, but never the first year 1859 (without the shield on the back)--so I was thrilled to see it dug.

Rodeo, DG, and I pounded the spot--and the flat buttons kept coming up, including a small Tombac that Rodeo was pleased with. Here's one of Rodeo's flat buttons in the clod:



And here are RR and DG swinging away with the FEVER:





It was a small spot--and we made short work of it. A decent number of buttons were found, plus a toe tap, a pewter spoon handle, and a suspender clips that the plow had demolished:



And here are the finds after cleaning. Kudos to Rodeo for his restoration of that suspender clip.



Buckles' Cleaning Tip of the Day: Use hot water to heat suspender clips and thin brass items that need to be bent back into shape. The water should be Scalding Hot--and then gentle steady pressure applied. I've restored dozens of clips this way, and never broken one. This is the same method that Rodeo used.

Here are two of DG's keepers--a beautiful button marked "Woods Robert PHILADa" on the back, and of course the 1859 IH:







Regards,


The IRON Brigade





Fisher. Better than setting the high score on Ms. PacMan.

 

[Derek752]

As always another superb Iron Brigade post , Congrats to Diggergirl on the IH fatty Interesting how the landowner was so skeptical , did you show him the finds afterwards ?
AWESOME recoveries and great tip on how to reshape suspender clips

BTW the general service button turned out GREAT

Derek

 

[BuckleBoy]

As always another superb Iron Brigade post , Congrats to Diggergirl on the IH fatty Interesting how the landowner was so skeptical , did you show him the finds afterwards ?
AWESOME recoveries and great tip on how to reshape suspender clips

BTW the general service button turned out GREAT

Derek

Yes. We show our finds to the land owners. 99% of the time they aren't interested in a bunch of dirty, corroded stuff.


Regards,


Buckleboy

 

[Burdie]

You can't beat a day like that with friends to boot. Congrats.

Burdie

 

[Nana40]

Ya'll did good! Congrats on the great finds!!! AND welcome to Tnet, BB's Dad!!!! 8)

Nana

 

[Johnny Ringo Silver]

That looks like alot of fun!! I cant wait till the crops start to get pulled this year! I too dug my first fatty earlier this year. I think it was an 1863. You all did great! 8)

 

[dgaughan]

amazing how well that staff button cleaned up love the 59 as well congrats and hh

 

[diggergrl]

As always another superb Iron Brigade post , Congrats to Diggergirl on the IH fatty Interesting how the landowner was so skeptical , did you show him the finds afterwards ?
AWESOME recoveries and great tip on how to reshape suspender clips

BTW the general service button turned out GREAT

Derek

Thanks Derek, That was such a fun hunt!

 

[ModernMiner]

Great hunt you three.
A 59' Fatty - Awesome!!!

Thanks for the suspender clip resto tip BB. That will come in very handy.

"beautiful button marked "Woods Robert PHILADa" on the back"

I never saw that button backmark. Any idea of the age? Mid 1800's?

Congrats to team IB.
-MM-

 

[BuckleBoy]

Great hunt you three.
A 59' Fatty - Awesome!!!

Thanks for the suspender clip resto tip BB. That will come in very handy.

"beautiful button marked "Woods Robert PHILADa" on the back"

I never saw that button backmark. Any idea of the age? Mid 1800's?

Congrats to team IB.
-MM-

We're not certain. No listing for that button maker...I posted it in the Whatzit threads and we couldn't get any concrete information...so we're just calling it 1830s judging by the abbreviation of "Philadelphia."


Regards,


Buckles

 

[RickyP]

As much fun as Ms. Pacman Do we need to start worrying? WTG.

 

[BuckleBoy]

As much fun as Ms. Pacman Do we need to start worrying? WTG.

I think that when someone uses an Old School detector, they need to take themselves lightly.

P.S.--MORE fun than Ms. PacMan.


-Buckles

 

[crazyjarhead]

Great finds. That alfalfa field would be fun to hunt . That civil war button looks like the one I found in Ohio several months ago