12 Pound Boreman

At around 11am on the second day of the Diggin' in Virginia organized relic hunt held in Culpeper Virginia on March 22nd-24th, I came across a wide and faint signal atop the bluff along rt 29. This high position was a redoubt that saw over 1100 shells fly during the action there in 1863. Here is the 12lb. Boreman cannon ball that was 22" down below the gravel and red clay. More pics to be added soon.

Volunteer Maine Militia Box Plate

This damaged Volunteer Maine Militia box plate was calling my name every time I viewed it on Plez Bagby's Virginia Relics web site. As you can see, it had been folded in half which resulted in a complete split. It may have been done by a soldier, perhaps a confederate making use of the solder fill to make field-molded bullets or perhaps this plate simply took a direct center hit from disc or plow.

I know that some purists would say leave it untouched as a two-piece. My approach or stance falls somewhere in-between purist and revisionist. For this relic I felt that a re-connect was appropriate, to have the relic displayed more complete, along with before-repair pictures.



The repair and matching required several sessions at the workbench and perhaps a total of 6hrs involving spot layering of differing dust hues after the initial edge angle matching and rejoin. I could have quickly re-patinized (painted) the entire face and re-filled the back with a solder mix, totally compromising originality but that approach, while actually minimizing the time it takes to do the restoration, usually results in a very different relic than the one dug. While I've done that kind of work, I do not get nearly the same amount of satisfaction from it. I think it looks good now but I may choose to expose more base metal and verdigris. I often set relic work aside and revisit a project with "new" eyes usually seeing something that requires tweaking. Note how robust the iron loops are and larger than what you find installed on the US box plates. I've done little to them aside from rust removal. They are heavy gauge and sturdy. You have to love these Maine plates!

Root & Rock Medicine with a dose of Vitamin B

Another hut excavation yields rocks and a few nice artifacts.


Here, my first glass of the hut becomes visible. Using my dig knife vs. the shovel insures that any glass I come across doesn't get the hatchet job. Using the knife affords one to feel when the blade crosses the smooth surface of glass. A very different sensation than even smooth rock. This bottle was directly under a couple of tightly wedged rocks and a root to boot.

This tiny medicinal came from the 9 o'clock location as you look down into the hole and hidden in the undercut. As you can see, some very large rocks have already come out.

Digging in the same direction as the location of the bottle led to the eventual recovery of the second part of the doctor's prescription. A perfect Company letter B, a weak signal that I scraped out well after sundown.

Lead Rations

Digging out huts can be interesting to say the least. As buried objects come to light they may present as something familiar...then turn out to be the oddity or the unusual. It's a fun aspect of the recovery. Case in point, while excavating a hut, this object was uncovered in one corner. Upon first glance, it appears that I have just uncovered the oxidized solder-filled back of an eagle breast plate or perhaps the back end of an artillery shell and its lead sabot. It is almost identical in circumference for an eagle plate or an 8-10lb shell. But there are some flags that go up that make my mind detour and 2nd guess my initial wish-driven reaction.

Looking closely, a clearly visible rust ring suggests this is neither plate nor shell. If it were an eagle plate then there should be rusty remnants of the two attachment loops within and across the disc, not a full ring of rust encircling. A lead sabot would likewise show no rust ring.

Upon extraction and closer inspection it becomes evident that a soldier has melted lead in a tin ration can to a depth of about 1.5". What remains is the tin can wrap around an oxidized lead hockey puck. The soldier has used his knife in the center to create a depressed cone with blade spokes where the lead would last solidify. A very neat soldier-made relic in my opinion. Purpose unknown. The lead-filled tin would certainly have been a stable fixture on a shelf holding down writing paper in a drafty hut. Who knows.

Probing for the Deep Relics

After probing out some large rocks at depth I'm encouraging my sister on her second dig with me to continue carefully in case she comes across a bottle.  At this point she has recovered a .58 minie, some buck balls and random pieces of glass.  

My turn in the hole and I've uncovered a circular iron object that has us guessing. 

 It is so rusted that it cannot be removed intact and it doesn't register as metal on the pinpointer.  It appears to be a rusted out bucket as further work reveals sides going down another 10" or so.

Directly underneath the object was this little gem.  Protected from the many rocks for 150 years.  Held here by my sister Debbie.

12-sided ink cleaned.  The cloudy white occlusions are actually glass imperfections from the blowing process.

Pontil mark 

Half Dime recovered a week before a few feet away from this excavation.  The third 1861 found in the small search area.  Possibly a coin spill.  Hope there's more to come.

Linament in the Sediment

With Hurricane Sandy bearing down on the mid-Atlantic region, I decided to get into the fields for the first time in months.  Probing put me on some large rocks at about the 2ft depth, where some huts and fire pits have been located in the past.  Shards of whiskeys, gin and food jars (and a sliced finger) put me on these better finds.

Linament bottle recovered 10-29-12

 I may have to go back and do some serious sifting to give this pipe a facelift.

Here's a video showing the careful excavation of a firepit area that yields yet another special relic from amongst the bolders.

 6/24/12 Spanish Silver Recovery

 Cut pistareen recovered at 2.5 ft 

Short Video of recovery

"S" for Seville

Shown placed with others from site

Below is a link to an absolutely fantastic article
on Spanish silver and specifically, on the
 origin and history of the pistareen in the
American colonies.

Pistareen