rhedden
Sr. Member
- Joined
- Mar 23, 2003
- Messages
- 396
- Reaction score
- 877
- Golden Thread
- 0
- Location
- Eastern NY
- Detector(s) used
- Minelab Manticore & Nokta Makro Simplex
Today's detecting adventure involved lots of leg work, taking me deep into the forest with little to no help from established trails. All in all, I was out hiking and detecting for 8 hours by the end. It was worth the effort, though, as I came home with two bucket-list relics!
The first object I found was an absolutely lovely "beer can signal" on the Manticore - a 76, but obviously larger than a coin, as it overloaded the depth check. Fearing a historic Bud Light deposit, I dug down about 5 inches and found this large, petal-style crotal bell that most likely dates before 1850 or so. I cannot find a maker's mark on it anywhere (bummer).
The last time I found a crotal bell was in 2008 or so. I found six small ones at a home site somewhere in PA. I was disgusted that they were not coins, so I left them in a pile near the base of a tree and never went back to get them. Now that I know they are desirable finds (
), I decided to keep the one I found today!
Moving on to relic #2, I simply can't believe this one. While hunting a small, unimpressive house site that spit out everything from early 1800s flat buttons to a 1938 wheatie, I found an unusual, convex button with shank intact. Did it have a design on it? Maybe. It needed a brief peroxide soak and some TLC with a scrub sponge to get the crud off, and then my jaw hit the floor. It's a War of 1812 relic, my first since the late 1990s. However, this time, it's not an American artillery button, but a British officer's button! The button features an elephant with a crown over it, the letters "LD" for Light Dragoons, and the Roman numeral XIX (for 19th Regiment).
The button was made by Nutting on King Street in Covent Garden. Formed in 1781, the 19th Light Dragoons were the first-ever regular British Army cavalry regiment to serve in India, fighting in the Battle of Assaye in 1803. After their military victory, they adopted the "Assaye Elephant" on their uniform buttons and other insignia. The 19th Light Dragoons were subsequently deployed to the U.S. to fight in the War of 1812. They spent the War of 1812 primarily stationed in Canada fighting in the Niagara campaign, but this button was recovered far to the southeast, and nowhere near any War of 1812 battles. Did it potentially belong to a prisoner of war, or did someone decide to stay in America after the war ended? I'll never know, but you've got to love the irony of finding it a few yards from a 1938 Lincoln cent, the only coin I found today.
Oh yeah, I almost forgot - is that an original piece of thread still attached to the shank? Yes it is!
The first object I found was an absolutely lovely "beer can signal" on the Manticore - a 76, but obviously larger than a coin, as it overloaded the depth check. Fearing a historic Bud Light deposit, I dug down about 5 inches and found this large, petal-style crotal bell that most likely dates before 1850 or so. I cannot find a maker's mark on it anywhere (bummer).
The last time I found a crotal bell was in 2008 or so. I found six small ones at a home site somewhere in PA. I was disgusted that they were not coins, so I left them in a pile near the base of a tree and never went back to get them. Now that I know they are desirable finds (
), I decided to keep the one I found today!
Moving on to relic #2, I simply can't believe this one. While hunting a small, unimpressive house site that spit out everything from early 1800s flat buttons to a 1938 wheatie, I found an unusual, convex button with shank intact. Did it have a design on it? Maybe. It needed a brief peroxide soak and some TLC with a scrub sponge to get the crud off, and then my jaw hit the floor. It's a War of 1812 relic, my first since the late 1990s. However, this time, it's not an American artillery button, but a British officer's button! The button features an elephant with a crown over it, the letters "LD" for Light Dragoons, and the Roman numeral XIX (for 19th Regiment).
The button was made by Nutting on King Street in Covent Garden. Formed in 1781, the 19th Light Dragoons were the first-ever regular British Army cavalry regiment to serve in India, fighting in the Battle of Assaye in 1803. After their military victory, they adopted the "Assaye Elephant" on their uniform buttons and other insignia. The 19th Light Dragoons were subsequently deployed to the U.S. to fight in the War of 1812. They spent the War of 1812 primarily stationed in Canada fighting in the Niagara campaign, but this button was recovered far to the southeast, and nowhere near any War of 1812 battles. Did it potentially belong to a prisoner of war, or did someone decide to stay in America after the war ended? I'll never know, but you've got to love the irony of finding it a few yards from a 1938 Lincoln cent, the only coin I found today.
Oh yeah, I almost forgot - is that an original piece of thread still attached to the shank? Yes it is!
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