Please say CS, please say CS... would it in Maine?

[MAINE HILLS HUNTER]

On Tuesday I got out with great friends. We detected several cellar holes that seem to have been hit pretty hard. After about 4 hours we all had some pretty full pouches of trash. I was walking a wall in what would have been a pasture heading back to the truck because we were about to head home. The Explorer SE Pro rang out with a very solid 04/26 showing about 8 inches deep. Sick of digging trash I started to walk away, however something inside said "what is one more piece of trash?" "Go dig it!"

Boy am I glad I did! I removed the plug, stuck the pinpointer in the hole, found that it was still a little deeper. The soil was soft so i just stuck my hand in the hole and fished around. I felt a buckle, the unmistakable shape that I have found in the past. I just kept saying to myself "Please say CS, Please say CS, Please, Please, Please". I pulled it out of the hole and flipped it over. No CS... but a really nice US beltplate.

This is my second in a 2 year period. In Maine of all places. 3 days later and I am still smiling.

 

[MAINE HILLS HUNTER]

MAINE HILLS HUNTER wrote:
> Civilman said it might be a "baby" plate. What does that mean?

Oval-US buckles came in three sizes ...which for convenience we civil war diggers call small, medium, and large. The "baby" US-Oval is of course the small one. Its main body is an oval which measures approximately 71mm by 41mm (2.8-inches by 1.6-inches).
The "medium" size Oval-US buckle measures about 78mm by 46mm (3.05-inches by 1.8-inches).
The "large" size Oval-US buckle is about 88mm x 56mm. (3.45-inches by 2.2-inches).

Thank you! After measuring it... it is the "large" size. Are some sizes more scarce than others?

 

[Marchas45]

Awesome find Eric, great looking pics, including yourself. That's on my wish list so hopefully some day. MDM Charlie

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

MAINE HILLS DIGGER wrote:
> After measuring it... it is the "large" size. Are some sizes more scarce than others?

Yes. Among the three sizes of Oval-US buckles, the rarest is the medium size. The small (or "baby") is a bit less rare. The large is far-and-away the most common.

 

[MAINE HILLS HUNTER]

MAINE HILLS DIGGER wrote:
> After measuring it... it is the "large" size. Are some sizes more scarce than others?

Yes. Among the three sizes of Oval-US buckles, the rarest is the medium size. The small (or "baby") is a bit less rare. The large is far-and-away the most common.

Thank you for the info!