The GREATEST hunt of my life: Iron Brigade's THREE BUCKLE DAY

Hello All,

I'm still shaking as I write this. I'm still in a state somewhere between shock and disbelief. Today ended up being my best relic hunt ever--and great finds were made by all of us Iron Brigaders today. So I'll try to get my mind focused on telling the story to you...

I went out with Rodeo Recon and Recon's Girl today to do some Housesite Huntin--Iron Brigade style. We had seen a picturesque house--really a turn of the century, ruin of a shack on a hill, and we'd decided that we'd stop and ask to hunt it. Now this house was newer that what we're after in the way of finds, but it was a beautiful location. The property owner gave us the go-ahead--with the warning that "several guys had already detected the property about fifteen years ago." We said we'd try to find something interesting. (This never scares me off.) Besides, I wanted to judge the caliber of detectorist that had been working the area. Well, when we got there, there was Silent Night playing on our machines. Undecided

I thought to myself "Self, these guys are pretty damned good. Professional, Serious hunters that really work a site out." Fortunately, we trumped their professionalism today--BIG TIME. thumbsup

I had a little trick up my sleeve--armed with more information and research on the area, I knew that there was an older house site than the shack on the property--back off in an unassuming corner of the farm diagonally behind the shack. I was a little worried that one of the other hunters had stumbled onto it because it was so close to the obvious spot, but I had to check it out with the team just to be absolutely certain.

So we got onto the older housesite--gone without a trace. The dirt had certainly been disturbed, and the cellar hole and cistern had long ago been filled in (Oh MAN I'd like to know what's in there!). But we still found about an acre of huntable ground. We started getting iron hits as we traversed the area--digging up some BIG IRON and pottery.

We'd located the site.

Pretty soon, Recon's Girl had herself a button. She said "I think it's an Eagle" Sure enough, I looked at it and was pretty darned certain that it was one. (We didn't field clean it since its back was broken in and it looked pretty fragile.) I took this photo of the site standing from where we were hunting--looking back on the old hunted-out shack. Wink

If those previous searchers had only known what was waiting underground just down the hill. Shocked

Little did I know that where I knelt to take this photo was within a few feet of where one of the PRIZE finds of the day was waiting to be found by me less than an hour later. I didn't even have my detector when I snapped the photo--I'd placed it against the tree for the shot Roll Eyes

So I get back to hunting. Since the ground had been disturbed, I was digging ALL overload signals--including a piece which was right on the surface under the tall grass (this one would set the tone for the rest of the hunt!). It was the "female" part of a belt keeper from a buckle. I looked long and hard at it, then announced to the team that I thought that it was potentially military--and OLD. I said something like "There has to be a Belt Plate around here somewhere." Roll Eyes

About a half an hour later--the finds were still coming up. Ooooold buttons, pewter spoon handles, a thimble, a suspender clip...and I wandered up toward where I'd taken the photo. Another overload signal blasted through the speaker of the 1266-X. When I opened up that ground and flipped that plug out, I caught a glimpse of one of the Sweetest finds that a relic hunter can see. Even though it was covered in moist dirt, I carefully took it out of the hole because I wanted everyone to watch its identity be revealed:

4-17-08 Belt Plate Covered in Mud.jpg

With the team standing around, I pulled the mud off the face of the plate, revealing the Eagle of a Civil War Sword Belt Plate! The second photo shows the impression of the Eagle in the mud after the plate's long rest underground.

4-17-08 Belt Plate Revealed.jpg

4-17-08 Belt Plate Eagle Imprint in Dirt.jpg

I was ecstatic, and the team was in SHOCK. I then pulled the last of the mud off the plate--documenting each step with a photo. Here are the front and back (attachment still there!) as found:

4-17-08 Belt Plate Fully Revealed.jpg

4-17-08 Belt Plate Fully Revealed Reverse.jpg

I then announced that I was done digging for a while. I turned my machine off so that I could catch my breath and enjoy looking at the plate. (I've found that it's too hard to be at the top of my game after a find like that--and I have to "come back to earth" in order to keep hunting well. Meanwhile the other two pounded this little honey of a site. Here's a photograph of Rodeo hard at work.

4-17-08 Rodeo Picturesque.jpg

Well folks, at this point I thought that it COULDN'T POSSIBLY get any better. I figured that the rest of the hunt would wind down and draw to a relaxing close. Let me tell you--I was WAY wrong on that one! I turned on my machine after sitting in the grass and acquiring a few Ticks tard

while staring at the plate. And I was off again. Within about 10 minutes of turning on the detector, I got a deep sounding signal. I thought it might be bigger and a little on the iron side (no ID machine here!), but I always dig such signals anyhow--at that point we had a Mount Everest of old, BIG IRON stacked up beside a tree. LOL. So I dug...and I dug. At about a foot deep--perhaps over a foot--I saw this disc appear, and it was the color of a dirt-covered milk-glass top from a canning jar lid. I TOTALLY thought that's what it was as I bent over to pick it up--until I got it in my hand. And it was HEAVY! I immediately said a prayer "Please let this be a..." and turned it over. I saw the sleepy old dirt-encrusted eagle of a Shoulder Belt Plate staring me in the face! I threw down my gloves and shouted to the others "The Whole Damned Uniform is Here!!!" They came running over to see:

4-17-08 Shoulder Plate in Dirt Close-Up.jpg

4-17-08 Shoulder Plate in Dirt Close-Up.jpg

At this point, fellow Tnetters, my head started swimming. I totally forgot the fact that it was 6pm and I'd only had two pieces of toast for breakfast...and that I was covered with ticks. Nothing else mattered. Nothing. The finds kept coming up for the other two folks while I sat and stared at the buckle collection I'd amassed during the afternoon. I was speechless.

4-17-08 All Buckles Dirty.jpg

Then at the closing bell, Rodeo found yet ANOTHER buckle! It's a plain lead-backed Shoulder Plate! This one has the same attachment marks on the back as the Eagle Shoulder Plate. We're wondering if it was a Confederate Plate taken as a souvenir. INCREDIBLE. Here's the reverse of these two (cleaned up). Federal-issued Eagle Plate is on the right.

4-17-08 Two Shoulder Plates Reverse.jpg

I've NEVER had as good of a day at a CW site (campsite, picket post or anywhere!). This hunt was a lesson in the Power of Research. I'm still in a state of disbelief... And still cleaning finds. The hunting doesn't end until dark for us. Every hunt. Then the drive home. Then the cleaning, photographs, and identification begin. It's part of the reason I can't seem to get a post up before 2 a.m. Roll Eyes

But in my reply immediately below are a few more photos--a sample of some of the cleaned finds (including a really cool two-piece pheasant button that Rodeo recovered, a nice, hallmarked pewter spoon handle and thimble from Recon's Girl, and a silver spoon bowl and suspender clip (patented July 2d 1867) that I nabbed...