Vernon in Virginia~Formerly Alaska
New member
[size=large]Went out detecting this morning with my friend Chris to try a couple of new spots and see if we could kick up any Civil War relics. The first place we tired produced a couple of bullets. After about an hour and a half, we decided to go try another spot. Chris delivers fuel oil in the Appomattox area, and is always looking for a new place for us to metal detect that may hold Civil War relics. Right up the street from the first place was a house by the railroad tracks that were used during the war.
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[size=large]The manicured front yard was loaded with coins. I was passing over pennies, as it wasn't even worth making a hole. The elderly lady (I think partly senile) came out and talked to us about every 10 minutes, before she'd go inside and reappear 10 minutes later. She was very concerned that we might dig up her septic system by accident; she asked me if I could find her property state, and showed me about where it was. After a couple minutes I located the stake (a piece of rebar with coil wire wrapped around it). After uncovering it, I drove a 1" pipe down beside it so she could see where the corner marker was. She then wanted to know if I would check her fuel oil level in her fuel tank; she went into the house, brought out a step ladder and a long pole. So I checked her fuel oil level, told her she had 17" of oil left. Then she went in again, and I took the time to do some serious detecting before she returned... and serious detecting I did, unearthing this rare Confederate States artillery belt buckle ~ well, half of the buckle, anyway. The picture's a little blurry because I was shaking at the time, realizing what I held in my hand. Click on pictures to enlarge. I quickly put it in my coat pocket before the old lady came out. I looked for the other half (a wreath) with Chris' help for 2 hours in a 50 foot radius of where I found the CS buckle, but no luck. [/size]
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[size=large] A little bit later, I pulled it out of my pocket to look at it again... cool. On the way home I stopped and showed it to Mountain Man. He looked it up in his Confederate belt plate book; it said it was a very rare Virginia artillery belt buckle with a rarity of "9" (10 being the rarest of all). According to his book there is approximately only 15 of these known to exist. [/size]
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[size=large]When I got home tonight I took Greg's advice and brushed it off without using water, so in essence all I did was take a dry stiff tooth brush and scrubbed it until the dirt was off, and here is the finished product. I will go back again and search for the wreath, but I believe the ground had been graded as I was finding smashed Vienna type cans at the same level as I found the buckle (about 5"). [/size]
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[size=large]Here is a picture of the complete buckle next to the one I found; it is item #4, you can read about it in the text. Thanks for looking y'all. [/size]
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[attachment 147485 1.jpg]
[size=large]The manicured front yard was loaded with coins. I was passing over pennies, as it wasn't even worth making a hole. The elderly lady (I think partly senile) came out and talked to us about every 10 minutes, before she'd go inside and reappear 10 minutes later. She was very concerned that we might dig up her septic system by accident; she asked me if I could find her property state, and showed me about where it was. After a couple minutes I located the stake (a piece of rebar with coil wire wrapped around it). After uncovering it, I drove a 1" pipe down beside it so she could see where the corner marker was. She then wanted to know if I would check her fuel oil level in her fuel tank; she went into the house, brought out a step ladder and a long pole. So I checked her fuel oil level, told her she had 17" of oil left. Then she went in again, and I took the time to do some serious detecting before she returned... and serious detecting I did, unearthing this rare Confederate States artillery belt buckle ~ well, half of the buckle, anyway. The picture's a little blurry because I was shaking at the time, realizing what I held in my hand. Click on pictures to enlarge. I quickly put it in my coat pocket before the old lady came out. I looked for the other half (a wreath) with Chris' help for 2 hours in a 50 foot radius of where I found the CS buckle, but no luck. [/size]
[attachment 147486 2.jpg]
[size=large] A little bit later, I pulled it out of my pocket to look at it again... cool. On the way home I stopped and showed it to Mountain Man. He looked it up in his Confederate belt plate book; it said it was a very rare Virginia artillery belt buckle with a rarity of "9" (10 being the rarest of all). According to his book there is approximately only 15 of these known to exist. [/size]
[attachment 147487 3.jpg]
[size=large]When I got home tonight I took Greg's advice and brushed it off without using water, so in essence all I did was take a dry stiff tooth brush and scrubbed it until the dirt was off, and here is the finished product. I will go back again and search for the wreath, but I believe the ground had been graded as I was finding smashed Vienna type cans at the same level as I found the buckle (about 5"). [/size]
[attachment 147488 4.jpg]
[size=large]Here is a picture of the complete buckle next to the one I found; it is item #4, you can read about it in the text. Thanks for looking y'all. [/size]
