Stunning Maine Militia Button (1820-1840) and Brass Miniature Cannon

Ahab8

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Topsham, Maine
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Teknetics T2 SE w/15' SEF Coil/ Minelab GPX 4500/2 Garrett Pro Pointers/3 Sets Killer B Headphones/ Koss Headphones/ Detekniy Wireless headphone Adapter
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All Treasure Hunting
Time has been limited this spring with more work than we can handle. The commercial construction industry is booming to say the least. I worked Memorial Day and decided I was taking yesterday off. I paddled out to an island that has treated me well in the past. I only had a few hours due to some very inclement weather forecasted for the afternoon. There's a colonial cellar hole in the center of the island which was either occupied for much longer than I thought or it was abandoned then reoccupied later. This day gave me 2 bucket listers. The first being a Maine Militia button dating from 1820-1840. When I first dug it I was thinking it may be civilian. But it was heavily gilted and I could clearly see a back mark. Then I remembered the 5 point design of the early Maine Militia button. A little lemon juice and I was shocked at the condition. Blown away by this button. The other good find is one that I am over the moon with. I've always wanted to dig a miniature brass cannon. I've always thought these were awesome. I admittedly am not positive of the history of these and what they date to. Any info is appreciated. I have found everything from big dandy buttons to pewter spoon handles to mid 1800s finds. So this cannon could date any time in there.
Another interesting find is this giant brass spike. My guess is for ship building. I've never seen one close to this size. It's massive. I'm excited to get back to this site as it's got a massive concentration of iron. There's going to be a ton of good finds masked by the iron. I will be using my magnet to remove lots of nails then snagging the goods below.
The last and most important part of this post is a picture of some incredible iron that my very good buddy OutdoorAdv processed for me. Brad is not only incredibly talented with detecting, sifting and preservation....he is also an awesome and generous friend. Thank you buddy for processing these pieces.
The fork is a favorite of mine. It's the only one that I've found. Bone handle I believe. One of the other favorites is the iron grapeshot that I found on a Rev War site. There's also a mystery in there. I thought for sure it was some sort of hatchet or belt axe when I dug it. Now I'm thinking it's not. But I have no idea what it could be. Thanks for looking guys and I apologize that I've been too busy to Che k out all of your great finds. I'll try to do better. Hunting for a mid 1600s site tomorrow. Prob strike out but you never know.
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Upvote 51
Great to see you posting. Condition on the button is sweet, and the toy cannon is an exceptional find. My buddy found a toy cannon in rough shape at a solid 18th century site; its poor condition was a result of being made of lead. I would guess that yours is 18th century, but it's a great find regardless of approximate age. Spike is definitely from ship construction. I have a spot that has offered up numerous spikes fragments at low tide - probably 25+ pounds of spikes from an 18th century shipwreck. I need to send Brad a PM on how I should restore a scalping knife with a brittle bone handle. Good luck on your next outing.
 

Hmmm just checked it out. It's tough because the finds date from late 1700s-mid 1800s. I guess I'll need to do a little research to nail this one down. I knew you had found a few and figured it may fall in line with one of those. Any good books on these?
They are in one of Gordon Baileys books but the best book on Toys which has a section on these doesn't have this type. I have most books & I'm not aware of a better one.
To me having the hole at the base doesn't make it a very practical working model. Maybe it's not British made??
My best guess would still be over the date range you mention.
 

They are in one of Gordon Baileys books but the best book on Toys which has a section on these doesn't have this type. I have most books & I'm not aware of a better one.
To me having the hole at the base doesn't make it a very practical working model. Maybe it's not British made??
My best guess would still be over the date range you mention.

Cru I know this doesn't do much in the way of helping to date this but I'm 98% sure this toy cannon came from the same site. I took a friend to this island a few years ago and we split up. He came out with a Mass cent and this toy cannon. I'm almost positive they came from the home site that I was at Thursday
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Abe, nice to see you again! What a fine hunt you had. Congrats on all of these awesome items. -Lisa & John

Thanks guys. Hope you find some time to continue the hunt on your amazing property
 

The gods were smiling on you. Can't believe how nice that button came out. Good luck with your 1600's hunt. Think positive

Thanks Tom. Pretty amazing when a 200 year old relic comes out like that
 

Great job 'Ahab8'
The button is 'SUPER SWEET'. It cleaned up amazingly well.

Cannon? COOL ! I don't know much about these but an early ? I had was "Did they actually Fire" Well Got my answer.

Yr other button is nice also, & ECH Did Great work on yr Iron pieces . :icon_thumleft:

I look forward to future Finds of yours & for Work 'Construction' Take it while you can get it.

You know how it was in 08 -2013. They are building a-lot down here also.
Peace
Davers

Thanks pal. Yeah these cannons were a working firing toy. It's prob a good thing I never had one.
The building is crazy right now. We just landed a 300 million dollar project. We have had some wastewater projects that big but this is a mill renovation into high end apartments. That's a ridiculous number for a project that's not infra structure based.
 

Great to see you posting. Condition on the button is sweet, and the toy cannon is an exceptional find. My buddy found a toy cannon in rough shape at a solid 18th century site; its poor condition was a result of being made of lead. I would guess that yours is 18th century, but it's a great find regardless of approximate age. Spike is definitely from ship construction. I have a spot that has offered up numerous spikes fragments at low tide - probably 25+ pounds of spikes from an 18th century shipwreck. I need to send Brad a PM on how I should restore a scalping knife with a brittle bone handle. Good luck on your next outing.

Thanks buddy. As you can probably understand I've spent most of my time arthritis earliest of sites. I rarely hunt anything that's post colonial. So things like these buttons or early 1800s coins are things I've had no shot at finding. I plan on doing better at balancing between the old and super old.
Can I see this knife. Brad is the master of all things dealing with preservation. I'm always blown away by his work
 

Congrats on the great finds Ahab! That cannon is awesome!

-- Jeff --
 

That button is amazing!! Love the other relics, well done!! Congrats and HH
 

Awesome finds Abe, the cannon and button are incredible. Hope you are able to do more digging this summer.
 

Thanks bro. Def psyched with the cannon. And it's nice to have a Maine military button in that condition. Anything that displays well is a bonus. Lots more hiding in that dirt

ThIs is the year of the cannon for you! Keep banging around those old sites be you on track to find a cannon and/or cannonball! Lol

And yeah, a lot is still hiding. Once that summer brush dies you'll cover a much larger % of that site
 

That Maine button is an eye popper. Seriously an ENVIABLE find there--the condition is just RIDICULOUS! Congrats on the toy cannon too!

Cheers,

Buck
 

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