Plate Straightening

This rather unusual excavated sword belt plate required straightening and touch ups to make displayable.  I suspect that many plough hits over the years has resulted in the significant distortion.

Applying pressure using several clamps simultaneously allowed for a break-less outcome.  Touch ups to some cracks along the edges and face resulted in a pretty good restoration.

What device was originally on the face of this plate is a mystery.  Several possibilities exist and these can be found in the many reference books on buckles and plates of the period.

Relics from Battle of Rappahannock Station

Coin Find at Foundation

Here's a video I thought I'd deleted showing a recent coin recovery right next to a stack of foundation stones at My Olde Site.  Just when I think there are no more coins to be found, another pops out.  Hope you  enjoy the thrill of the hunt.  It's a coolish July 6th day after a very hot 5th.  I'm back digging even deeper after finding an 1817 large cent the day before.   

Coppers Coppers Coppers

These three coppers were retrieved from the deepest level of the federal era cellar hole I affectionately refer to as My Olde Site.  The condition of each copper coin, while not good, and the result of laying in the lowest (and dampest) level, still allowed for identification.  Each came out like the one shown below, heavily encrusted with copper oxide.  After some cleaning details would emerge allowing an ID for each; two varieties of the 1787 Connecticut and a King George III.  Images of non-dug versions of what I found have been superimposed for reference.

A good online reference for these coins can be found at Connecticut Coppers, 
an Introduction.

Pistol Drops on a Hill

Dusted off the MXT and GPX for a beginning-of-Fall hunt and was rewarded with a nice variety of pistol bullets.  All were at depth with the average probably about 6-8 inches.  What the MXT could not hear, the GPX did.  Note the prominent sprues on the two .54s and the several .45 round balls, a caliber I rarely dig.  Also in the group are eight .45 Bartholows, nine .36 and one .32 conical with a few .36 and .32 round balls in there as well.  Good looking drops.  Unlike last time out, no bee stings but I have to say, the chiggers are still in the pines.

Centreville Museum Restorations

Some, if not all, of these restored plates will be on view at the private Centreville Museum which is becoming (or has become) a huge success.  The CS two-piece required that the wreath be matched to the tongue.  The Script NY only needed the keeper bar straightened.  The Flaming Bomb was applied to the plate.  The clipped corner (buried under the NY) was given a ground dug look as it was splitting in two.  The gutter back frame  buckle was bent and distorted into a parallelogram and was missing the center bar. It was a rough one now straightened and completed.  A nice collection indeed.

Losing Daylight, My Olde Site Produces Again

Well, once again, the federal-era foundation site yields yet another pre-1820 coin. This time, after about two hours of deep digging and as the sun sets and the mosquitoes set upon me, a coin is located in the side wall to make the dig worthwhile. I ran the detector along the upper walls and heard a good signal near where I knew some tin scrap was lying on the surface.  It sounded too good to ignore so I dug into the wall and the coin simply dropped down in front of me as shown in this blurry video.

This is the 13-star variety of the 1817 which is less rare than the 15-star. In 1817, the Mississippi territory was divided into the Mississippi and Alabama territories. The first Seminole War was begun in this year and the first school for the deaf was established in Connecticut. An interesting year.