paleomaxx
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- Aug 14, 2016
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I'm usually looking for 18th century spots, but I always thoroughly search any new spot even if it seems to date squarely in the 19th century. This was one of those sites where the first few dozen targets were post Civil War and clustered around the 1880's so I wasn't expecting much older than the 1860's. It's on a road where the sites have all been detected before, but this spot was littered with those old iron beer can fragments so I think the previous detectorists gave up on it pretty quickly. I don't mind clearing some surface iron though and there were enough interesting targets that I kept at it:
Every now and then I would unearth a flat button and even a few tombacs, but that's not unusual for 19th century sites. Near the foundation I found an absolutely gorgeous brass button though:
It's an inch across so dandy sized, but most definitely Victorian. The moon is a separate piece that has two prongs that passed through a hole in the button and then were bent over. Very cool looking, but not that old. I was hoping I would stumble on some small silver that had been missed and to my surprise I instead stumbled on a fairly big chunk of silver:
Sterling pocket watch bezel! No markings unfortunately and I haven't been able to find any other pieces, but definitely unexpected and appreciated. I found a surprising number of suspenders buckles all clustered around one area of the foundation. Too spread out to be a single spill, but still oddly close together:
One military button turned up and while it's a pretty standard general service eagle button, I was able to track down the original veteran that it belonged to:
The foundation is marked as belonging to an Samuel Hickox and I looked through the Civil War rosters and found him listed:
He served with the Massachusetts 49th Infantry and participated in the Siege of Port Hudson. Pretty crazy to think that this button was likely on his uniform at the time.
There weren't too many coins, but the quality of the few I did find can't be beat. I even found a seated dime which is very rare for me around here:
It's an 1886 Philadelphia mint which isn't a scarce date, but it's in great condition. The 1863 IHP on the other hand is in exceptional condition; especially considering how the cupronickel pennies usually do in the ground. This one doesn't even look like it was dug if not for a little dirt I left in the crevices to help the design pop. It was right on the lip of the foundation so practically no moisture for the last 160 years! The last coin I found was the most surprising though. It was very deep and a crummy signal. At first I thought it was a button since it was too thin to be an IHP, but as it dried in my hand the writing suddenly popped:
Colonial copper, and one I hadn't seen before to boot! It was actually pretty hard tracking down what this was; I knew it was German, but it's from the German States period and there are quite a few different varieties of the 1 Pfennig out there.
As it turns out it's a 1780 1 Pfennig from the Duchy of Brunswick-L?neburg. My first German coin from the 18th century and something haven't seen before so a pretty awesome find, but the next target blew it out of the water. It was another crummy signal, but very shallow so I was thinking a fragment of brass sheet or another iron whatsit. Instead I pulled out a perfect set of cufflinks and the design was unmistakable:
Masonic cufflinks!!!
I've seen a couple of these posted on here before, but it's been awhile and they really aren't common at all. Behind the GW eagle cufflinks (which I dug last year
) these were the style of cufflinks I've most wanted to dig a set of. 
I did minimal cleaning since they were nearly perfect right out of the ground. They have the cast and drilled shank construction so on the older side. As it happens I know the exact lodge where this person would have attended Masonic gatherings. It's a 1760 house that's still standing and when they were restoring one of the rooms they found a large masonic crest behind one of the walls and in the ceiling. That house is less than 2 miles from where these were excavated! Pretty amazing to hold these in my hand especially since the local history of the Masons is so well established.
I'm good friends with the current owner of that 1760 house and he was very excited to hear that I found a set in the area. I had detected his yard some time back and I had mentioned that there were masonic cufflinks known to exist, but they were very rare and the chances of finding a set in his yard were slim even with the activity. As it was I found almost nothing 18th century in the yard due to extensive landscaping, but to still find a pair nearby is incredibly lucky!
A pretty amazing spot considering and while I'm still pretty sure that the foundation is post Civil War, there may have been an earlier cabin that dated back to the 1770's. Glad I can still surprise myself with great finds in an unexpected spot!
Every now and then I would unearth a flat button and even a few tombacs, but that's not unusual for 19th century sites. Near the foundation I found an absolutely gorgeous brass button though:
It's an inch across so dandy sized, but most definitely Victorian. The moon is a separate piece that has two prongs that passed through a hole in the button and then were bent over. Very cool looking, but not that old. I was hoping I would stumble on some small silver that had been missed and to my surprise I instead stumbled on a fairly big chunk of silver:
Sterling pocket watch bezel! No markings unfortunately and I haven't been able to find any other pieces, but definitely unexpected and appreciated. I found a surprising number of suspenders buckles all clustered around one area of the foundation. Too spread out to be a single spill, but still oddly close together:
One military button turned up and while it's a pretty standard general service eagle button, I was able to track down the original veteran that it belonged to:
The foundation is marked as belonging to an Samuel Hickox and I looked through the Civil War rosters and found him listed:
He served with the Massachusetts 49th Infantry and participated in the Siege of Port Hudson. Pretty crazy to think that this button was likely on his uniform at the time.
There weren't too many coins, but the quality of the few I did find can't be beat. I even found a seated dime which is very rare for me around here:
It's an 1886 Philadelphia mint which isn't a scarce date, but it's in great condition. The 1863 IHP on the other hand is in exceptional condition; especially considering how the cupronickel pennies usually do in the ground. This one doesn't even look like it was dug if not for a little dirt I left in the crevices to help the design pop. It was right on the lip of the foundation so practically no moisture for the last 160 years! The last coin I found was the most surprising though. It was very deep and a crummy signal. At first I thought it was a button since it was too thin to be an IHP, but as it dried in my hand the writing suddenly popped:
Colonial copper, and one I hadn't seen before to boot! It was actually pretty hard tracking down what this was; I knew it was German, but it's from the German States period and there are quite a few different varieties of the 1 Pfennig out there.
As it turns out it's a 1780 1 Pfennig from the Duchy of Brunswick-L?neburg. My first German coin from the 18th century and something haven't seen before so a pretty awesome find, but the next target blew it out of the water. It was another crummy signal, but very shallow so I was thinking a fragment of brass sheet or another iron whatsit. Instead I pulled out a perfect set of cufflinks and the design was unmistakable:
Masonic cufflinks!!!
I've seen a couple of these posted on here before, but it's been awhile and they really aren't common at all. Behind the GW eagle cufflinks (which I dug last year
) these were the style of cufflinks I've most wanted to dig a set of.
I did minimal cleaning since they were nearly perfect right out of the ground. They have the cast and drilled shank construction so on the older side. As it happens I know the exact lodge where this person would have attended Masonic gatherings. It's a 1760 house that's still standing and when they were restoring one of the rooms they found a large masonic crest behind one of the walls and in the ceiling. That house is less than 2 miles from where these were excavated! Pretty amazing to hold these in my hand especially since the local history of the Masons is so well established.
I'm good friends with the current owner of that 1760 house and he was very excited to hear that I found a set in the area. I had detected his yard some time back and I had mentioned that there were masonic cufflinks known to exist, but they were very rare and the chances of finding a set in his yard were slim even with the activity. As it was I found almost nothing 18th century in the yard due to extensive landscaping, but to still find a pair nearby is incredibly lucky!
A pretty amazing spot considering and while I'm still pretty sure that the foundation is post Civil War, there may have been an earlier cabin that dated back to the 1770's. Glad I can still surprise myself with great finds in an unexpected spot!
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