HomeGuardDan
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- Joined
- Jul 15, 2011
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- Location
- Williamsburg, VA
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- Primary Interest:
- All Treasure Hunting
My buddy Bill D. and I got back out yesterday afternoon for a short foray back to our site we scouted the other day (where Bill dug a Block I). This site is a unique one as it is on a very historic property that bore witness to history changing from the 1600's through the Civil War. This particular are was of suspect of colonial and civil war. We narrowed down our search to an area that had a grouping of buildings. Hoping one would be colonial and also perhaps hiding a small CS camp (based on what we found last hunt) we were very excited to get back to the freshly cut virgin field.
My first target believe it or not was a confederate South Carolina button (quite smashed but there) which set the tone for the unexpected, non-colonial dig. Eagle buttons began to pop up and then another indian head fatty (1863) penny along with a few other odds and ends. There were TONS of targets to dig as you can see. Among it all were signs of the camp, melted lead, carved bullets, etc. One item that was quite abundant were lock faces. Over the course of the dig I recovered a few fly covers, and plenty of escutcheons to locks and trunks and finally a skeleton key (still a bit worn and broken, but there).
One item looks similar to the bottom of civil war era flag poles...but to be honest it could be (as I believe it to be) a brass end to any farming wooden instrument. At the end of the day I dug what I thought was going to be a Virginia state seal button, that was until I got home and began to cleaning process. To my surprise, it was not a VA button (as it appeared when dug) instead it was something else. After some decoding of the latin script and a little research, it appeared to be a quite rare Georgetown Cadet button from Georgretown University. I spoke to one of the most notable civil war button experts in the community and my example is a pre-civil war button that has shown up from time to time in confederate camps. It is a very desirable button and priced it out at $500-$750 in value (not that I sell a single thing).
In total I dug 15 buttons (including a solid silver colonial cuff button and the civil war era ones), plenty of brass and lead along with an 1868 shield nickle and 1863 IH. I did manage to also dig half of a broken plate of some sort. I can't make the designs out but the reverse shows where the tongue once was. It could be fraternal from the house site or camp related, we shall probably never know. Perhaps I can find the other half and solve the mystery. Some colonial items did again show themselves, ranging from buckle pieces, pewter spoon dishes, early locks, etc all keeping us hoping for a colonial site to emerge.
Bill and I are geared up to return tomorrow and spend a lengthy amount of time there as to date we have only spent a few hours in two short trips.
HH
Best,
Dan
My first target believe it or not was a confederate South Carolina button (quite smashed but there) which set the tone for the unexpected, non-colonial dig. Eagle buttons began to pop up and then another indian head fatty (1863) penny along with a few other odds and ends. There were TONS of targets to dig as you can see. Among it all were signs of the camp, melted lead, carved bullets, etc. One item that was quite abundant were lock faces. Over the course of the dig I recovered a few fly covers, and plenty of escutcheons to locks and trunks and finally a skeleton key (still a bit worn and broken, but there).
One item looks similar to the bottom of civil war era flag poles...but to be honest it could be (as I believe it to be) a brass end to any farming wooden instrument. At the end of the day I dug what I thought was going to be a Virginia state seal button, that was until I got home and began to cleaning process. To my surprise, it was not a VA button (as it appeared when dug) instead it was something else. After some decoding of the latin script and a little research, it appeared to be a quite rare Georgetown Cadet button from Georgretown University. I spoke to one of the most notable civil war button experts in the community and my example is a pre-civil war button that has shown up from time to time in confederate camps. It is a very desirable button and priced it out at $500-$750 in value (not that I sell a single thing).
In total I dug 15 buttons (including a solid silver colonial cuff button and the civil war era ones), plenty of brass and lead along with an 1868 shield nickle and 1863 IH. I did manage to also dig half of a broken plate of some sort. I can't make the designs out but the reverse shows where the tongue once was. It could be fraternal from the house site or camp related, we shall probably never know. Perhaps I can find the other half and solve the mystery. Some colonial items did again show themselves, ranging from buckle pieces, pewter spoon dishes, early locks, etc all keeping us hoping for a colonial site to emerge.
Bill and I are geared up to return tomorrow and spend a lengthy amount of time there as to date we have only spent a few hours in two short trips.
HH
Best,
Dan
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