Palmetto
Sr. Member
- Joined
- Mar 21, 2009
- Messages
- 324
- Reaction score
- 548
- Golden Thread
- 2
- Location
- UpCountry, SC
- 🥇 Banner finds
- 2
- Detector(s) used
- XP Deus,Teknetics T2, Fisher Goldbug,
Whites 5900/ di Pro sl
- Primary Interest:
- Relic Hunting
On Friday I went out to my river site which has been a great spot for me. This site is what I think must have been a trading post, stagecoach stop or like. Some early coins as well as high quality civilian buttons and not far away from this I have dug a SC cuff and Manuscript I button-regardless of history, a lot of early 1800 through civil war activity was in and around this site.
Since summer I have not been out there and much to my dismay, the main area was still high in growth and not huntable. I had my gear and went towards the woods to see what I could get. Well, about 20 minutes in I got a strong, steady, high reading on the T2. Six inches down was what I first thought was a coin-probably a 2 cent piece. It had the size, was thick and very green. When I got it out of the hole, examined it, I saw it had a broken shank in the back and though that it was just another flat button as the front was plain. I saw the back had a backmark and wiped the dirt away-to my amazement, out pops the word, WASHINGTON and below it, a beautiful federal-style eagle. My first thought was a Jacksonian type button or commemorative type button, which in its own right is a great find. I forwarded a crude picture to my hunting buddy, Greg Toney and described it for him-he thought the same.
Well-after some serious researching and question asking by Greg and myself, it appears that this button is a very rare Washington Political Reverse cuff button circa 1792. Rob Silverstein, a GW button collector describes it as a button worn by either a senator or representative that would have favored the Washington Administration-it was not a button that civilians had access to. His rarity Rating is R-6 which represents 3-5 known examples. He only knows of 3 others in existence, 2 of which have missing shanks.
What is interesting is that this type is not referenced in Albert although it closely resembles the eagle styles of certain GW Inaugural buttons but is most likely a specific political button as described earlier.
Regardless, I am happy to have dug it and look forward to hopefully finding out more research. If any of you know more or different please let me know.
The pictures below are the button with no cleaning other than wiping the dirt away-it is in too good of shape as is to mess with in my opinion.
Thanks for looking.
Russ
Since summer I have not been out there and much to my dismay, the main area was still high in growth and not huntable. I had my gear and went towards the woods to see what I could get. Well, about 20 minutes in I got a strong, steady, high reading on the T2. Six inches down was what I first thought was a coin-probably a 2 cent piece. It had the size, was thick and very green. When I got it out of the hole, examined it, I saw it had a broken shank in the back and though that it was just another flat button as the front was plain. I saw the back had a backmark and wiped the dirt away-to my amazement, out pops the word, WASHINGTON and below it, a beautiful federal-style eagle. My first thought was a Jacksonian type button or commemorative type button, which in its own right is a great find. I forwarded a crude picture to my hunting buddy, Greg Toney and described it for him-he thought the same.
Well-after some serious researching and question asking by Greg and myself, it appears that this button is a very rare Washington Political Reverse cuff button circa 1792. Rob Silverstein, a GW button collector describes it as a button worn by either a senator or representative that would have favored the Washington Administration-it was not a button that civilians had access to. His rarity Rating is R-6 which represents 3-5 known examples. He only knows of 3 others in existence, 2 of which have missing shanks.
What is interesting is that this type is not referenced in Albert although it closely resembles the eagle styles of certain GW Inaugural buttons but is most likely a specific political button as described earlier.
Regardless, I am happy to have dug it and look forward to hopefully finding out more research. If any of you know more or different please let me know.
The pictures below are the button with no cleaning other than wiping the dirt away-it is in too good of shape as is to mess with in my opinion.
Thanks for looking.
Russ
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