Two hour snow hunt yields an indian, shield, "KKK" token, and some fun relics

[TrpnBils]

Two hour snow hunt yields an indian, shield, "KKK" token, and some fun relics

Went to visit family over Thanksgiving and hunted an old homestead about a two-minute walk from my parents' house that I've only hunted twice before. There are two homesteads there that were on an 1876 map but have been obsolete since at least the 1940s because my grandfather used the foundation stones from the one house to construct a chimney at his childhood home down the road. There are cellar holes at both places, but the one is an odd layout and I can't quite feel out the lay of the land because it actually gets WAYYYY cleaner toward the road so I focused on the other site across the road toward a filled-in well.

Previously I'd found an 1868 Indian and some miscellaneous old house-stuff there but I did good yesterday morning. A little snow also helped me to check where I had and had not been.

The Indian head I found yesterday was an 1862 that rang up nice and low on my Etrac - this was a first for me as I had previously only dug bronze ones. This one rang in right where shotgun caps ring in at so I'm glad I dug it! The year isn't visible on the picture because I suck at taking clear photos, but it's definitely there. Lots of green on this one when I dug it. About 15 feet from that I hit a good nickel signal and pulled a shield nickel, which was a first for me since I started MDing. I'm a little disappointed that, like a lot of shields, it doesn't appear to have a visible date. I can get 18-- but that's of no help. I scrubbed it with a toothbrush and warm water/dish soap but it hasn't helped. Before I took the dirt off with the toothbrush I thought I got 188-, and my wife still swears it ends in a 7, but they were already done by 1887 so one of us is wrong. If anybody wants to take a stab at it go ahead!

Beyond that, I dug this coin/token/tag thing that's the same thickness as a quarter, but a little bigger than one (not as large as a half dollar though). It came in as a 12-46/47 on my Etrac and is not magnetic. It has what appears to be 3 chain links stamped on the front, along with the letters KKK. The back is blank. I don't think this is "the" KKK but I have no idea what it is because it doesn't have any hole or any other way to attach it to something (I have previously found cattle tags back there, but those of course have holes). If it's initials, it doesn't match up with any of the land owners I have on record for that property or the adjacent one. The next closest house is about half a mile away so it had to have come from one of the two sites I was at originally.

Also dug were several buckles, some with leather still attached, a very large spoon, and something that my wife says is/was a spur....I tried arguing that it was a ninja star but was shot down.

I also dug a 6-foot, 2-man saw but did not take any photos of it. My dad is going to see if it can be restored well enough to mount as a decorative piece in their house.

 

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[zaxfire69]

That token is interesting. Usually the 3 chain links are an Odd Fellows symbol. I am tuned in to hear what the experts have to say about this token. Very nice finds. Congrats.

 

[TrpnBils]

Thanks - I put the token by itself up on the "What is It" forum and the only reply so far suggested the same thing and that it could have been modified by a KKK chapter. I have never heard of the IOOF before that reply, but a quick check of tokens related to them doesn't seem to pull up anything that directly resembles this so far. Doesn't rule it out by any means, but I'll be surprised if anybody including myself can figure out exactly what it is. It'd be cool though if somebody could (although with how it rang in for me a nice seated quarter or half would have been cooler!)

 

[jewelerguy]

looks like a counter stamped large cent

 

[TrpnBils]

That's a good point. I'll get out my calipers in a bit and check the actual diameter and thickness to see if/how well it matches up.

 

[pong12211]

Neat finds thanks for sharing.

 

[TrpnBils]

On closer inspection, that's exactly what it is! That hadn't even crossed my mind before, but you can clearly see the outline of the head right where the chain and letters are, especially in person. See if this makes sense for what I'm seeing... I know it's REALLY rough, but the angle of the top of the head makes me think of a Matron Head type:

 

[TrpnBils]

The homestead is on my grandfather's property and I emailed him about this earlier today. Just got a reply from him saying that he would strongly believe it would be a stamp related to the Klan because apparently they had quite a history in our area, and that some members of our family had actually been members back in the mid-1800s until they found out what it was all about... history isn't always pretty but it's cool how much of a story can unfold from something as unassuming as this piece of metal.

 

[jewelerguy]

since the kkk wasn't around until the reconstruction period following the civil war, I doubt this piece has anything to do with them. large cents may have still been used in commerce, but they had long been replaced with small cents. my opinion is that it was counter-stamped by a merchant probably mid 1840's to mid 1850's and thrown into circulation as advertisement. maybe someone will be able to attribute it to a particular merchant if others like it are known

 

[treblehunter]

No telling when it was stamped, looks like a Large Cent to me. You had a great day of hunting, nice finds.

 

[pepperj]

I guess what's the up there on the top is that you're digging on property that's been around the family for a good chunk of history. Congrats on digging the coinage and relics with some return hunts you're on the road for digging a silver from the site.
The token could of been stamped years after the actual mintage date of the copper as stated by treblehunter as it's so worn, thus throwing it into an unknown period. What it is, when, or how it was to get there is an unknown, but it's by far the best find of the day IMO.
Like you said that your Grandfather stated the high probability of some family members being involved with the klan until their knowing of what they were all about and you finding the token that could be a direct link to the history of the family is great, and puts the find way up there above a piece of coinage. Good or bad we can't change history we can only embrace it as a learning tool.

 

[park pirate]

Nice...

 

[geologyjohn]

My guess is that the owner of that coin (at the time that it was lost), was a member of BOTH the Odd Fellows and the KKK. I believe that he took a nice sized disk, in this case an old large cent, and made himself an ID badge or challenge coin. I think that you have a superb find there! Good job!

 

[UnderMiner]

Large cents wouldn't have been circulating much in the reconstruction-era South but they were only a few decades out of production, so to say they weren't still everywhere is nonsense. People probably struck slogans on them all the time just like people do today with $1 bills. Maybe the coin was counter stamped both before the civil war by someone and then again after by the new KKK. A counter stamped large penny was probably a good way to spread their slogan since the new penny was too small and the larger silver coins were too expensive.

 

[TrpnBils]

I agree the timeline doesn't make sense for it to be used "actively" (if that's the right word) by the KKK at the time of its mintage, because even the latest large cents were done being minted before the KKK was established. There's not going to be a way of verifying when it was stamped obviously, but it makes sense to me that if one established organization was stamped on it that another could be also, even if they were stamped decades apart. Again, there's no way of verifying when either stamp was made, or even if it was by the same person. If the KKK was active in this area in the decades following its establishment, it makes sense to me anyway that it may be referencing the group, regardless of when the coin itself was in circulation.

What I find especially interesting here, just from my own perspective, is my own apparent inability to fully appreciate what may have some cool history behind it. I'm just stoked at finding my first LC! I'm actually a little disappointed that it doesn't have any detail left aside from a single letter on the back (the "R" in "America" which I found after posting this last night) and the outline of a head!

 

[TrpnBils]

I agree the timeline doesn't make sense for it to be used "actively" (if that's the right word) by the KKK at the time of its mintage, because even the latest large cents were done being minted before the KKK was established. There's not going to be a way of verifying when it was stamped obviously, but it makes sense to me that if one established organization was stamped on it that another could be also, even if they were stamped decades apart. Again, there's no way of verifying when either stamp was made, or even if it was by the same person. If the KKK was active in this area in the decades following its establishment, it makes sense to me anyway that it may be referencing the group, regardless of when the coin itself was in circulation.

What I find especially interesting here, just from my own perspective, is my own apparent inability to fully appreciate what may have some cool history behind it. I'm just stoked at finding my first LC! I'm actually a little disappointed that it doesn't have any detail left aside from a single letter on the back (the "R" in "America" which I found after posting this last night) and the outline of a head!

 

[pepperj]

I agree the timeline doesn't make sense for it to be used "actively" (if that's the right word) by the KKK at the time of its mintage, because even the latest large cents were done being minted before the KKK was established. There's not going to be a way of verifying when it was stamped obviously, but it makes sense to me that if one established organization was stamped on it that another could be also, even if they were stamped decades apart. Again, there's no way of verifying when either stamp was made, or even if it was by the same person. If the KKK was active in this area in the decades following its establishment, it makes sense to me anyway that it may be referencing the group, regardless of when the coin itself was in circulation.

What I find especially interesting here, just from my own perspective, is my own apparent inability to fully appreciate what may have some cool history behind it. I'm just stoked at finding my first LC! I'm actually a little disappointed that it doesn't have any detail left aside from a single letter on the back (the "R" in "America" which I found after posting this last night) and the outline of a head!

Yes it always seems that a person gets a bummed digging a first and it's toasted or worn beyond being a disk with very little detail. You will in fact will dig a LC that has crisp detail if you dig enough holes at sites that will produce such finds, but it'll be a longtime and maybe never for you to dig another token such as this. Certain finds turn one's crank, and some just cut the mustard, but I'd trade 10 fine LC's any day for that one token.