🥇 BANNER Massachusetts milicia officer sword buckle

[pax_in_ma]

Massachusetts militia officer sword buckle plate

First time river hunting. Found one piece of a Massachusetts militia officer sword buckle plate right on the water edge. It's pre civil war. Very little information on the Internet about it so if you have any I'd love to know about it. Relicman has a complete one on his website. Need to go back and see if I can find the other piece.

Thanks for watching,

Patrick

 

[against the wind]

Very nice sword plate. I hope you find the other half.

 

[Professor of Engineering]

Congratulations on the fantastic Massachusetts relic recovery!

 

[toasted]

Love it. I'll probably never dig a plate of any kind but its high on my wish list. Sounds like you got a good one. Congrats

 

[Worm-Slicer]

Very nice, I want one!!!

 

[pepperj]

Congrats on the great piece of history, and what appears to be a rare one at that. Vote in-oh ya!

 

[sutphin]

HELLUVA FIND FOR SURE , MAY GET LUCKY AND FIND THE OTHER HALF. AWESOME PA MA.

 

[kray]

I second what Eric in NJ says.
And my vote is in, too. Awesome find!

 

[BuckleBoy]

That's a keeper!

No it isn't. The keeper would've been the other half.


In all seriousness, that is one rare buckle to dig! I'm nominating this for the finds banner!

 

[pax_in_ma]

Looks like a very rare and historical find and in quite nice shape. Would like to see you amend the story of it's finding and cleaning a bit. But as far as I'm concerned it's a Banner worthy find. Congrats on such a great find!

Eric,

Added a little to the story in a post below. As far as cleaning I only tooth picked it and used a soft brush. Given all the good feedback I got from the TNet veterans about the uniqueness of the item I might seek some professional help for restoration/preservation. I know very little about it so don't want to ruin the buckle. I'll ask my club for local resources in the greater Boston area but if any of the TNet veterans have any recommendations I'd welcome it.

Thanks,

Patrick

 

[pax_in_ma]

Adding a picture of the back and adding some more information about the find. I would say it's the result of 30% research, 20% intuition and 50% luck. During the winter I researched locations that a) had some sort of historical event or importance, b) were easily accessible by then and c) are difficult to access today. Basically trying to improve my chances to hit a promising virgin or lightly detected spot. One of them was by a river bank so I loaded the kayak and went on an exploratory "expedition". I had the intuition I would find something there but it was only an exploratory trip. Was my first water hunt ever. Once at the spot I quickly realized that I was not properly equipped for a water hunt (despite looking at most of the Aquachigger\Beau Ouimette's videos on YouTube) with water above the knees, so I searched the shallows and the water edge. Was lucky enough to put my coil on the right spot. Found the buckle on the edge. That is on the edge because of the summer drought. Would have been underground/underwater some other months. Gave me a mid to high 70 on the AT Pro. Now, I learned a lesson that day. I almost gave up on getting to the item. It was ~8" deep but under a bunch of river bushes roots and I had nothing but my hands and a basic small shovel to cut them. Painful. Took me a while. The only reason I kept going was the sound in my headset. Nice and crisp. Finally got it in my hands. Knew immediately it was a buckle and I recognized the state of Mass emblem but did not realize what I was looking at. Just though "Nice!" and I put it away. A few minutes later I found about 5' away what I believe to be the top of a lantern. I tried for a bit to find the other piece of the buckle but decided to continue to explore other spots along the river and to come back to this location better equipped in hope of finding the other piece of the buckle. Hope to do that this weekend. When I got back home I could not find much information about the buckle, so it's not until the TNet community started to provide input that I realized the uniqueness of what I found.

 

[CMDiamonddawg]

Big Congrats ! Very kool

 

[JeffInMass]

Patrick, congrats on the simply great find!! Really stinks being here in Mass huh?? I truly hope you can find the other half- that would an awesome find even better. GL!!

-- Jeff --

 

[Gregg3131]

Great find and save. Congrats on banner!!

 

[Davers]

TOO COOL PAX in MA.
Congratz on the Awesome Banner Find.

 

[pax_in_ma]

Thanks everybody for the compliments and the banner votes. I truly appreciate. Just saw the buckle on the banner. Still can't believe it.

Patrick

 

[Valley Ranger]

Congratulations! The AT Pro is an amazing machine. How deep was it? Be sure and submit this find for Garrett's "Favorite Find of the Month" contest:

Vaughan Garrett's Favorite Find Of the Month

 

[pax_in_ma]

Congratulations! The AT Pro is an amazing machine. How deep was it? Be sure and submit this find for Garrett's "Favorite Find of the Month" contest:

Vaughan Garrett's Favorite Find Of the Month

Was about ~8". Did not think about submitting it to Garrett. Will definitively do it. Thanks for bringing it up.

 

[MichiganMan]

First time river hunting. Found one piece of a Massachusetts militia officer sword buckle plate right on the water edge. It's pre civil war. Very little information on the Internet about it so if you have any I'd love to know about it. Relicman has a complete one on his website. Need to go back and see if I can find the other piece.

Thanks for watching,

Patrick

Is that supposed to be a bow, a branch, or an atlatl in the right hand? An arrow in the left? Nice find. Nice patina.

 

[Silver Tree Chaser]

That is one awesome, rare find. I didn't get the chance to vote banner, but I don't you think you had any trouble making it to the top with such a quality find! Now, got get that frame!

 

[pax_in_ma]

Is that supposed to be a bow, a branch, or an atlatl in the right hand? An arrow in the left? Nice find. Nice patina.

Bow in one hand. Arrow pointed down as a sign of peace in the other hand.