18th Century Bling

We left off in yesterday's post after I went exploring on several new permissions, and although I had dug a really great bullet, I was still unsure what I had.  I didn't want to go home empty-handed, so I drove over to the cow field to see if I could sneak out a few more bullets.

That field is getting slim (although I look forward to getting back in there with a bigger coil sometime), and it took me a while to find a patch we hadn't thoroughly searched yet.  When I finally did, though, I started recovering quite a few three ringers and Williams cleaners in a tight area, the usual finds for this camp.  Right in the middle of the bullet patch, the GPX gave a nice high tone.  While the low tones usually indicate lead bullets, a high tone could be small brass.  It could have been small aluminum trash, but with all these bullets around I was hoping for a soldier's button.  What I found was... Well, see for yourself.

The large stone was in fabulous shape.  But what was it?  Glass?  Gemstone?  Could it be a diamond??  And then there was the back.  It came out of the ground shiny, with just a few small spots of tarnish.  I've seen enough dug silver to know that it probably was authentic from the patina.  But beyong that, I knew very little.  It appeared to have a shank, so I was thinking some sort of fashion button.  I had so many question.  What was it?  How did it end up in the cow field?  Could it be old enough to have been dropped by a Civil War soldier?

I spent a good bit of time searching the web for the right set of key words that would unlock the mystery.  I was shocked when I finally found a match - this was not a button per se, but rather part of a broken set of late 18th century paste stone sleeve links (cufflinks)!!

Shirts in the 1700's served as undergarments, meant to be always worn under an overcoat.  The shirt was the utilitarian wear, meant to preserve the outer clothing from getting soiled too quickly.  The sleeve cuff included a pair of button holes, which could be tied shut with ribbon or fastened with sleeve button links.  These links could be made out of a variety of materials, including bone, horn, copper, silver, and gold.

The links that I found have a silver back, along with a stone of either rock crystal or paste stone set in the style of the earlier Stuart crystal jewelry.  Paste stone was a type of leaded glass developed for jewelry in the mid 18th century.  While an imitation of natural gemstones, it was desirable in its own right and not a cheap knock off like we think of rhinestones today.  These links would have been quite fashionable for a man of some amount of status in the late 1700's.  Below is a very similar complete odd paste stone cufflink, found during an archeological dig at Harvard Yard.  The author writes that the links "were particularly fancy, suggesting that at least one student was very fashionably garbed at 18th-century Harvard."

So how did these aristocratic sleeve links end up in a Virginia cow field?  I'll probably never know the answer.  I found no other items from the period in that field - no flat buttons, knee or shoe buckle fragments, or other civilian accoutrements.  There was no evidence of an early house site.  In fact, besides very modern aluminum rubbish and farm iron, we found a few Civil War era buttons and a whole lot of bullets.  I suspect that it's quite possible that the cuff links, then already an antique at 60+ years old, were being taken home as a souvenir by a returning Union soldier before being accidentally left behind in camp.  I can't ever prove that of course, but you can be sure I will return to scour that spot for more evidence, and maybe even the other half of the broken link!!  Thanks for reading, God bless you, and happy hunting!

A Strange, Savage bullet

Hey everyone!  I got out yesterday to do some detecting, starting out at a new site.  I was looking for a larger camp, but it doesn't appear to be on my target property and I'll have to keep searching.  In fact, I didn't have much to show for my first half of the trip.  Just some modern rubbish, and iron fence wire.  I did get one signal that sounded great - a nice deeper low tone.  I dug it up, hoping for a Civil War bullet.  What I found was this odd looking bullet, that appeared in the field to be some sort of older (but still relatively modern) rifle slug.  Still, something stuck out to me about it, and I stuck it in my pocket.  It's shown here next to a standard 58 caliber bullet.

Later that evening I attended the monthly meeting of the Northern Virginia Relic Hunters Association.  I had actually forgotten about the weird little bullet, but pulled it out with a few other finds that were in my pouch from the second half of the day (more on this later).  "Can anyone tell me about this one?" I asked, holding it up.  "Post War?"

The replies came quick from some of the real veterans in the room - that's a Civil War bullet, and a pretty good one at that.  It was meant to be fired from a Savage revolver, a gun that was as odd looking as the projectile.

The Savage was named for one of the two designers of the weapon, Henry North and Edward Savage.  It had a very small production run, from 1860-1862, with only 20,000 total units produced.  These were purchased by both the Federal army and navy, as well as individual sales, and some did end up in the hands of Confederate forces.  The most unique feature of the Savage is the double trigger design, a sort of hybrid between single and double action firearms.  One trigger was used to advance the cylinder and cock the gun, and the second to fire.  Despite the potential advantages to this design, it was not adopted in great numbers due to somewhat unnatural cocking mechanism and significantly lower cost of Colt and other revolvers.

Finding bullets for this gun is not common - this was my first, and unless I can locate some more on a return to that site, I may never find another.  I feel very blessed to have recovered this one!  I also had another great find yesterday, but I will write that up as a second post here in a day or so.  Thanks for reading, and happy hunting!

Book Review -- The Metal Detecting Bible

Hi everyone!  I recently had the opportunity to read and review a new book, The Metal Detecting Bible by Brandon Neice.  Some of you may know Neice by another name, Dr. Tones from the popular YouTube channel Dirt Fishing America.  I'll just say up front, I love DFA's videos, so I jumped at the chance to review his new book.

It is primarily an introductory text, but I was very impressed with the variety of topics covered.  All the "newbie" questions are covered well enough to help you cut through some of the hobby and technical jargon, and start getting the most from your detector on day one.  For someone just starting out, or in the first few years of detecting, I would highly recommend it.  For those of us that have been around the detecting block a few times, you might not get quite as much out of it - but the humorous tone keeps it fresh and interesting, and it was still a fun refresher course.

Niece's background shows through in the book, with a definite emphasis on "treasure" - namely old coins, and prospecting.  There's nothing wrong with that, and in fact the prospecting chapter and discussion of prospecting gear was more thorough than I have seen in previous introductory texts.  I would love to see a follow-up book from the author with the same engaging style of writing, and a more in depth look into the prospecting niche of the detecting world that many of us know little about.  The flip side, of course, is that the author's background in treasure hunting provides less information for aspiring relic hunters (vs the other various subsets of detecting).  I would like to have seen a nod to us Civil War guys and gals, with a few leads for research (regimental histories and the Official Record, for example), how to identify and dig out huts and fire pits, and a using the terrain to look for potential camps.  The discussion of coinshooting, jewelry hunting, and prospecting are all sufficiently detailed, and the techniques discussed are applicable to all hobbyists.

No matter what area of metal detecting you're interested in, there's a lot of good stuff in The Metal Detecting Bible.  In particular the first three chapters (basic principles, tools, and techniques) should be required reading for anyone picking up a detector.  If you're new to the hobby and want a head start, or you've been considering a detector and want to know what's involved, it would be worthwhile to give this one a read.  Happy hunting, y'all!

Meet me in NC -- GPX Seminar and Salisbury Civil War Show

Hey everyone!!  I'm coming home to the Old North State once again for two events next week!

Interested in learning about Pulse Induction metal detectors for relic hunting (or Civil War detecting in general)?  I'll be giving a talk at the monthly meeting of the Triangle Relic Recovery club meeting this Tuesday, Feb. 23.  The meeting will be held at the Ridge Road Baptist Church in Raleigh at 7:30.  The main focus of my talk will be the Minelab GPX series of detectors, including practical use and setting for various conditions.  I will also have special deals available and some giveaway prizes for a few lucky attendees.

Ridge Road Baptist Church

2011 Ridge Road

Raleigh, NC 27607

(in the Fellowship Hall)

7:30 PM

Then I will be back next weekend for the Salisbury, NC Civil War Relic Show Friday and Saturday, Feb 26-27.  This should be a great show, with some fabulous relics on display.  I will have detectors and equipment available for purchase from Fort Bedford Metal Detectors, and to answer any questions about the hobby.  I'd love it if you could stop by and say hello!

Pewter Roundball Mystery

Hey y'all!  I got out for a short hunt today at two spots with my friend Dustin.  One was brand new, and we spent a good while searching only to end up skunked.  But we did get a good lead from the landowner about where the site we are looking for might be located.  Maybe next time!

We also spent about an hour pushing the boundaries of the "cow field" site I've been working.  The cows were occupying the camp and refused to budge, so we stayed on top of the hill that had given up a few dropped and fired round balls before.  Dustin found a dropped roundball today, and I found a flattened three ring bullet and fired pistol bullet.

The big mystery for the day, though, is the odd round ball that appears to be made out of pewter or some other lead alloy.  This is the second such pewter round ball I've found in the field, and Dustin recovered a third this afternoon as well.  They are all about 44 caliber.

I'm wondering if they may be some sort of CS field made bullet, cast out of pewter or a poor lead alloy.  I suspect Confederate in nature, as their supply chain was much more fragile than the industrialized North, which was well supplied with standardized lead bullets.  It is possible, although I haven't yet found documentation, that the poorer Confederate troops may have needed to cast bullets out of a less effective alloy if lead was in short supply.  I have seen a few references to pewter alloy bullets used in muskets excavated from revolutionary war archeological sites.

Could these be CS pewter bullets?  Or something else entirely?  I'm really not sure, but I'll update when I know more!  Let me know in the comments or by email if you have any insight!

Two Incredible Days

Wow, I'm a sore puppy!!

Thursday I went out with my friend and coworker Keith, and we almost immediately started hitting Sharps carbine and pistol bullets, indicating Federal cavalry as we expected for the site. They were all over in that field!  Even though we took an extended break in the middle of the day, we both cleaned up in bullets. I got three buttons for the day, all cuff size. One was just the back, one a terrible condition GS, and one eagle Infantry with a little gilt still on.

I'm also happy with four percussion caps, as I've never dug those surface hunting before, so that was fun. The percussion cap is a very small brass cup filled with ignitable material.  The cap is placed on the nipple of the gun.  When struck by the hammer, it lights the gunpowder and sends the bullet down range.

Yesterday I went out with a forum friend, Joe aka Spectra1.  We headed out in the cold wind to a spot that's been good for some deep bullets in the past. He started out with the XP Deus and I had the GPX, and then we switched part way through the day. We spent a lot of time comparing signal resonse on the two machines.

The bullets were all fairly deep, and the ground somewhat mineralized. Not "Culpeper bad", but in that direction. The deus was barely able to squeak out a signal in some of the bullets found with the GPX, and not at all on others. We did find one of the bullets with the deus first, and it was considerable shallower, maybe 6 inches, and finally gave a solid response at that depth. The ground was just too hot for that machine to perform to its best ability.  The rest of the bullets all came from the GPX, whosever hands it was in at the time. I was happy to see Joe find a couple of Williams cleaners, a bucket list item that he hasn't been able to check off despite his laundry list of rare CW recoveries.

But the find of the day went to the deus! I got an iffy type signal, better in that ground than iron and worth digging, but not ideal. I flipped the plug, and brushed away the dirt on the bottom and my eyes were met by a beautiful block "I" Confederate infantry button staring back up at me! Woohoo!! It's my first confederate letter button, pewter/white metal one piece with full stand up shank and awesome condition. They don't come out too much better.

So how did this Confederate button end up in the middle of the decidedly Union camp?  There are many possibilities.  It could have come from a captured soldier, of been taken as a souve of the war.  The most likely explanation comes from the land itself.  It lends itself strongly to a camp area along the old road, so it is probable that it was used as a camp or brief stop off for both sides.  There may be more Confederate relics to find, or this could be the only evidence of a short detour off the main path.  But I do know I intend to search it more thoroughly to find out!

All in all, two great days in the fields sharing history with friends. That's what it's all about. But I'm tired and sore, so I guess it's time to relax with the family for the weekend and the big game. If you made it this far, thanks for reading and happy hunting!

Detecting Saxapahaw's TOP TEN finds of 2015

WOW, what can I say about my 2015 detecting year?  Looking back on the year in review (as one is wont to do these days), I can't help but realize how blessed I have been in what I've gotten my coil over.  I couldn't have done it without my good friends and relic hunting partners, to whom I am much indebted.  Each one of these pieces tells a story about our nation's past and those who walked the land long before us, and each one holds a special memory for me in the recovery and preservation of these finds.  You'll notice that a few of these have not been discussed here on Detecting Saxapahaw, for one reason or another.  Rest assured, those articles are coming - I still have more great stories of detecting adventure from 2015 that have yet to be fully formed into prose.  Thanks again to all my readers, and stay tuned for more exciting finds in 2016!  Also, if you want to stay up to date on the lates from Detecting Saxapahaw (including a couple of big announcements coming up soon), like us on Facebook here! 

Now without further ado....

Detecting Saxapahaw's TOP TEN finds from 2015!

#10  -  Melted Union cavalry sword belt plate

#9  -  1853 Seated Half Dime

#8  -  US base three ring bullet

#7  -  Monogram "A" coin silver spoon, Henry White, ca. 1820's

#6  -  M1862 US Bridle Rosette

#5  -  Cut quarter two reale, ca. 1740's

#4  -  Confederate SC State Seal coat button

#3  -  Baby US box plate

#2  -  Initialed 18K gold engagement ring, 1883

#1  -  Johnston and Dow sharps paper cartridges