Mystery metal knee buckle and one-piece Scovill button

[DownNDirty]

Well now that deer season is over it's game on for some sites I have been waiting to explore. Over the long weekend I took advantage of my newly found freedom to cover some ground on a 950-acre permission that I secured last spring.

To start out I revisited an 18th century home site where I found a lot of quality relics including three silver cuff links and three British coppers. I hit it pretty hard last year but I thought I might be able to squeeze a little more from the site. It's a small plowed field in the middle of the woods, and the home site location straddles the edge of the field. A gridding of half of the field produced a tombac button, followed by a brass flat button a few feet into the woods.

After that I spent a lot of unproductive time in the woods and it looked like the day was going to be a bust, until I got a strong, loud 80 signal (which on the AT Pro is usually either silver or a large copper). I was hoping for a halfpenny but was not disappointed when I dug an intact knee buckle frame.



I was so sure it was silver that I later tried the baking soda, hot water and aluminum foil trick with no results. Then I tried polishing it with Mothers Mag and Aluminum Polish (which I use to clean silver) and it ended up with a black, smooth finish. I am stumped-any ideas as to what type of metal it is made of?



Late in the day I dug a very early, one-piece Scovill (actually "Scovills") civilian button with a lot of gilt still on it. I was pretty happy with this one; it's my best civilian button to date. Based on my research it was made in the 1820s or 1830s. Aluminum jelly did a good job of cleaning the gilt.

Just dug


Then after cleaning


The day closed out with a partial snaffle bit that was actually on the surface under some leaves (thanks to Brad for the id)





The rest of the weekend was spent scouting in three other fields on the property with limited results. A couple of buttons, a pocket knife plus the usual suspects.



Time to find some new sites-that signature has got to go! lol

 

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[A2coins]

Sweet finds just by the looks of those relics you will be busy for a good long time Thanks for sharing your finds hope you find some more great stuff!!!!!!

 

[Stef45]

great finds! that button's gilt is perfect! the knee buckle is a dream find. congrats!!!

 

[Scrappy]

Excellent finds Glenn. That's a great bit and way to go on the knee buckle. Some alloys used back then really stand the test of time. It looks like you nailed the cleaning. Congrats brother

 

[vpnavy]

Nice finds DownNDirty! Thanks for sharing...

 

[Ahab8]

Good stuff buddy. I'm guessing that buckle may indeed be brass based. On the bottom where the pins connect it has that look. I may be wrong and the only way to really know would be to get through that patina which I don't want you to do. I'll have to look at some of my buckles to see if any have a similar look

 

[Trezurehunter]

Congrats on some great relics.

 

[trapperart]

Very nice finds congrats

 

[fishstick]

Great buckle!! The alum jelly makes that button POP!!!!! CONGRATZ....

 

[DownNDirty]

Sweet finds just by the looks of those relics you will be busy for a good long time Thanks for sharing your finds hope you find some more great stuff!!!!!!

Thanks A2. I have worked the home site to the point that the good finds are few and far between, but there is a lot of acreage to explore so who knows?

 

[DownNDirty]

great finds! that button's gilt is perfect! the knee buckle is a dream find. congrats!!!

Appreciate it Stef. The button had a whole lot more gilt on the front than I thought-at first it looked like there was none left but the magic aluminum jelly did the trick.

 

[DownNDirty]

Excellent finds Glenn. That's a great bit and way to go on the knee buckle. Some alloys used back then really stand the test of time. It looks like you nailed the cleaning. Congrats brother

Thanks Steve. The metal on the bit is unusually gnarly but it doesn't look like it rusted that way-I think the blacksmith made it rough like that for some reason. Never seen a forged object that was finished that way-strange.

 

[DownNDirty]

Good stuff buddy. I'm guessing that buckle may indeed be brass based. On the bottom where the pins connect it has that look. I may be wrong and the only way to really know would be to get through that patina which I don't want you to do. I'll have to look at some of my buckles to see if any have a similar look

Thanks Abe. At this point I think Steve is right about it being some type of alloy, but I don't have a clue what type. And no I don't intend to clean it anymore-the patina is too nice as it is.

 

[DownNDirty]

Great buckle!! The alum jelly makes that button POP!!!!! CONGRATZ....

Thanks fish. The AJ can work miracles on buttons with gilt, that's for sure!

 

[montcalm]

Those are wish list find they look great Cong. I did myself found a couple ( buttons and buckle) and i believe they could be both pewter. This was in use then in those day. Here a link, https://books.google.ca/books?id=-r...q=knee buckle what material they made&f=false

 

[Stef45]

Appreciate it Stef. The button had a whole lot more gilt on the front than I thought-at first it looked like there was none left but the magic aluminum jelly did the trick.

i have just a flat button with gilt on it that i might have to try aluminum jelly on just to practice..where you usually buy yours from?

 

[OutdoorAdv]

Great hunt Glenn and I really like your knee buckle. Great job preserving that horse bit too. I mentioned before that the knee buckle could perhaps be made of tombac... which is a brass alloy.

Here are a couple pieces of tombac shoe buckle frames I've found. Since they have a silver color to them and rarely corrode in the soil here, they often fool me in the dirt thinking they might be silver. ha

 

[DownNDirty]

i have just a flat button with gilt on it that i might have to try aluminum jelly on just to practice..where you usually buy yours from?

I ordered it through Amazon-couldn't find it locally. I was just told that Loctite may not be making it much longer so it might be a good time to order a couple of jars.

 

[DownNDirty]

Great hunt Glenn and I really like your knee buckle. Great job preserving that horse bit too. I mentioned before that the knee buckle could perhaps be made of tombac... which is a brass alloy.

Here are a couple pieces of tombac shoe buckle frames I've found. Since they have a silver color to them and rarely corrode in the soil here, they often fool me in the dirt thinking they might be silver. ha



View attachment 1403692

Like you said, that is a real possibility. Looks similar although mine is darker.

 

[Scrappy]

Like you said, that is a real possibility. Looks similar although mine is darker.

When mixing the alloys, each maker had different "formulas", and even then the formula varied from batch to batch. I have some tombac buttons that shine like silver, and others that almost look copper like. Some were even diluted with pot metal and quality varied greatly. Yours looks great.