Yesterday's and Today's finds

[John(Tx)]

Took my XTerra 50 to an old homestead that one of my friends recently bought. This land was part of a plantation that dates back to the 1850's. He was telling me that he was tearing up some ground so he could plant a small garden and that it was full of iron junk and lots of red brick, so I offered to help him find some of the bigger iron and discard it, he said go for it. He said anything I found, I could keep. Did find lots of big pieces of iron, horseshoes, etc. I also found an almost perfect US belt plate, my 5th in the last two years, an old padlock that I have been soaking in mineral oil to free it up, one 1890 "V" nickle, some lead, pieces of old broken dishes, a skeleton key in pretty good shape, some kind of tag that is blank, a small buckle whose two little tines still turn, a handle from a spoon/fork, and some shell casings. The smaller one is a .38-.40 caliber but don't know what the bigger one is, maybe a .44? The bottle neck was next to the US belt plate but must of been broken a long time ago, tried to find the rest of it but nowhere to be found, too bad it wasn't intact. Any help with the small buckle will be greatly appreciated. Oh yes, my buddy said I can go hunt his property anytine I want to go. HH John

 

[mdholedigger]

way to go digger......hit that place hard....looks like you have yourself a good hunting site

 

[ThatCannonballGuy]

The "small buckle with two little tines" is a suspender-strap adjustor buckle. It's a generic civilian item, though of course civil-war soldiers also wore them. They were made from the 1700s all the way up until the time most folks quit wearing suspenders. Yours appears to be from the 1800s time-period.

Congratulations on such good finds! And on receiving the opportunity for future hunts. Forgive me for adding: Just be mindful of keeping any mowed-grass yard area looking exactly the way if did when you get out of your car. ;-)

Regards,
TheCannonballGuy (Pete George)

 

[Robert]

Very nice plate. Looks like you'll be going back for seconds.....and thirds..... and fourths. Congrats.

 

[John(Tx)]

This area is an open field with no manicured lawn, makes digging alot easier, my buddy is fixing to disc it next month. HH John

 

[Mike Bearden]

n/t

 

[ThatCannonballGuy]

John(Tx) wrote:
"Thanks for that info Pete."

You're welcome. I'm always happy to help a fellow relic-digger know that a mysterious item they've dug should be put in a displaycase instead of the trashcan. ;-).

"This area is an open field with no manicured lawn, makes digging alot easier, my buddy is fixing to disc it next month."

Oook! Then by all means, hurry aand clean it out before the disc gets to cut-up any more relics. : )

Regards,
TheCannonballGuy (Pete George)

 

[Anonymous]

n/t