Rev War GOLD! Muskets balls and buttons

[Patriot Relics]

Hey guys,

Got back out the the Revolutionary War battery this evening- a site active during the Revolution, War of 1812, and Civil wars. This cite had already produced a War of 1812 I button last week and a few round balls. Within minutes the Safari began ringing off the hook- everywhere I dug I began pulling out lead slag, fired .69 caliber musket rounds, and smaller round ball fragments. After an hour or so I dug my first buttons- both flat buttons in need of a long olive oil soak. Not far from the these, I dug a large, domed, copper button with a square whole in the middle. The prize of the day occurred just before sunset as the Safari's tones began bouncing between high ferrous and low conductive. Given the history of the site, any repeatable signal was good enough to justify a plug. As soon as I flipped the plug over I knew what I had...my first officer's GOLD cuff link! I had found a 3rd regiment of foot pewter cuff earlier this year, but never dreamed of finding a solid gold one. Enjoy the pics!

 

[Msbeepbeep]

Congrats! Nice gold find!

 

[Patriot Relics]

Hey Crusader,

Spot on- while I would love to be able to prove that it was worn by an officer in the Rev War there is really no way to be certain. I am only basing my opinion on other relics found at the recovery site that positively confirmed there were battles fought there. Either way, a fantastic find!

 

[Iron Patch]

Hey Crusader,

Spot on- while I would love to be able to prove that it was worn by an officer in the Rev War there is really no way to be certain. I am only basing my opinion on other relics found at the recovery site that positively confirmed there were battles fought there. Either way, a fantastic find!

Find an officer button and you'll be one step closer.

 

[Ahab8]

Wow that is a killer find. I'm going to vote Banner on that piece. The age and it being gold makes it a very special find to me. Congrats

 

[Patriot Relics]

Thanks Ahab- heading back to the site on Wednesday to find the rest of it... wishful thinking I suspect

 

[Silver Tree Chaser]

That's a very rare find!

I’ll go with a banner vote due to its rarity for being an artifact of personal adornment made from pure gold. Members might consider the rarity of this find. If you Google for 18th Century gold cufflinks or just about anywhere in the vast world of the Internet, you’ll find only a few (literally only two or three) examples of 18th Century gold cufflinks. Go into Google Images for 18th century octagonal gold cufflinks and see what you get! You’ll see the ones that I posted on TNet back in 2013 and nothing else that fits the description – 18th century, gold, and octagonal, but perhaps we’ll see your find popping up soon. Don’t concern yourself with the Revolutionary War angle. That cufflink piece is very rare just for what it is right now. Most jewelry and such was melted down over the centuries, so few examples can be found today, especially with cufflinks. What do you think they did with cufflinks when they lost the missing half, like the one that you found? They melted down the remaining cufflink. Silver cufflinks of the same shape and style are found on occasion, but a gold specimen is exceedingly rare. Congrats on a rare find, not necessarily valuable, but worth something and very rare.

Here’s the gold cufflinks and the silver Stuart Crystal cufflinks that found back in 2013 – what a year! Even the silver cufflink has gold thread – a monogram with the owner’s name and 250+ year clothing backing underneath cut quartz. I was amazingly lucky to find both cufflinks intact.

 

[Patriot Relics]

I’ll go with a banner vote due to its rarity for being an artifact of personal adornment made from pure gold. Members might consider the rarity of this find. If you Google for 18th Century gold cufflinks or just about anywhere in the vast world of the Internet, you’ll find only a few (literally only two or three) examples of 18th Century gold cufflinks. Go into Google Images for 18th century octagonal gold cufflinks and see what you get! You’ll see the ones that I posted on TNet back in 2013 and nothing else that fits the description – 18th century, gold, and octagonal, but perhaps we’ll see your find popping up soon. Don’t concern yourself with the Revolutionary War angle. That cufflink piece is very rare just for what it is right now. Most jewelry and such was melted down over the centuries, so few examples can be found today, especially with cufflinks. What do you think they did with cufflinks when they lost the missing half, like the one that you found? They melted down the remaining cufflink. Silver cufflinks of the same shape and style are found on occasion, but a gold specimen is exceedingly rare. Congrats on a rare find, not necessarily valuable, but worth something and very rare.

Here’s the gold cufflinks and the silver Stuart Crystal cufflinks that found back in 2013 – what a year! Even the silver cufflink has gold thread – a monogram with the owner’s name and 250+ year clothing backing underneath cut quartz. I was amazingly lucky to find both cufflinks intact.

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View attachment 1120953

Hey Silver Tree,

Your's was the only example of an 18th century cuff link I could find when researching the net, although I did reach out to a few museums. Thanks for the followup and for reiterating the rarity of my find- it is finally setting in how special these pieces truly are. This hobby...or addiction... never ceases to amaze me! Congrats to you as well on your complete set

 

[screwynewy]

Congratulations on a rare and highly desirable find for any colonial relic hunter. It is a shame that this find does not get the attention that it deserves but not many members here are knowledgable about this type find. I would also like to commend you for not lobbying for banner votes while in my opinion it is clearly deserving. It is easy to be frustrated or bitter when an amazing find gets overlooked but you seem to be in this for the right reasons and not too concerned about it. Good luck on finding the other half!

 

[Ahab8]

Congratulations on a rare and highly desirable find for any colonial relic hunter. It is a shame that this find does not get the attention that it deserves but not many members here are knowledgable about this type find. I would also like to commend you for not lobbying for banner votes while in my opinion it is clearly deserving. It is easy to be frustrated or bitter when an amazing find gets overlooked but you seem to be in this for the right reasons and not too concerned about it. Good luck on finding the other half!

Well said. Well the Banner is a cool thing what's more important is the acknowledgement of the people on here that really understand how special items like this are. It used to bum me out that these rare historical items didn't get as much attention as a new silver coin but I'm starting to put this in a better perspective. Most people don't live in areas where it's possible to find some of this stuff. So they don't know much about it and would prefer to see the things that they're likely to find because they can relate to these things. I will never drive a Lamborghini so I don't bother researching them and learning everything I can about them. I don't go to exotic car dealerships to kick tires. Ok that's prob a poor analogy but the point is it's all relative our areas and our lifestyles. Instead of wasting my energy trying to convince people that they should appreciate this stuff I put that time and effort into learning more myself and praising people like the OP who go out and recover these incredible finds. As far as rarity goes....how many gold colonial cufflinks has everybody seen on here? Yeah it's that rare

 

[terpfan]

Very rare and impressive recovery. By all means it is deserving of banner status. The mods may be hoping for a better photo to go up top. In any event I hope you can find the missing half, there is a good chance it is out there.

 

[The Patriot]

Would love for something like that to fall under my coil...banner in my books!

 

[coinman123]

Congrats on that wonderful historic gold cufflink, gold is great but old historic gold is incredible. I think it could have been worn by a general in the battle, probably not but there is that chance.

Coinman123,

 

[pepperj]

Congratulations on a rare and highly desirable find for any colonial relic hunter. It is a shame that this find does not get the attention that it deserves but not many members here are knowledgable about this type find. I would also like to commend you for not lobbying for banner votes while in my opinion it is clearly deserving. It is easy to be frustrated or bitter when an amazing find gets overlooked but you seem to be in this for the right reasons and not too concerned about it. Good luck on finding the other half!

Well said. Well the Banner is a cool thing what's more important is the acknowledgement of the people on here that really understand how special items like this are. It used to bum me out that these rare historical items didn't get as much attention as a new silver coin but I'm starting to put this in a better perspective. Most people don't live in areas where it's possible to find some of this stuff. So they don't know much about it and would prefer to see the things that they're likely to find because they can relate to these things. I will never drive a Lamborghini so I don't bother researching them and learning everything I can about them. I don't go to exotic car dealerships to kick tires. Ok that's prob a poor analogy but the point is it's all relative our areas and our lifestyles. Instead of wasting my energy trying to convince people that they should appreciate this stuff I put that time and effort into learning more myself and praising people like the OP who go out and recover these incredible finds. As far as rarity goes....how many gold colonial cufflinks has everybody seen on here? Yeah it's that rare

I totally agree with both of you on this great find, it seems that only a few actually get the rarity of this one find.

 

[Patriot Relics]

Thanks for the banner nod gents, certainly the rarest item I've found since picking up MD'ing last year. I've learned so much from reading your threads over the last year and it means a lot just to have the link acknowledged by those who can truly appreciate it.

 

[Patriot Relics]

UPDATE

Hey guys, based on the advice of a few member on posting a better picture I decided to take the link back out of the display case and take another picture. While I was positioning my digital coin microscope I noticed the letter M along the edge of the link! Could be the goldsmith or owner's last name- can't believe I missed it all this time.

 

[CRUSADER]

UPDATE

Hey guys, based on the advice of a few member on posting a better picture I decided to take the link back out of the display case and take another picture. While I was positioning my digital coin microscope I noticed the letter M along the edge of the link! Could be the goldsmith or owner's last name- can't believe I missed it all this time.

View attachment 1121801View attachment 1121802

As its hand incised, its a later addition by the owner (most likely). Maybe a surname, & the other initial might have been on the other chained linked cuff button.