SNY - Belt Plate.......What a nice surprise!

   This weekend started out like any other with a plan on where we were going to detect and the time we were going to meet…..but that changed quickly when a friend I was going digging with could not make it at the last minuet…So I decided to make my way down to Allegany county where we had planed to go, shortly after that phone call I decided to call another friend that I go detecting with “Jim B”. The funny thing is, he was heading down to Allegany county also…….so we decided to hook up and do some detecting. After giving me the location where they were going to be, I put the info in my GPS and within a short time I arrived at the location…. Now the walk was not far, but it was up an old horse and wagon road that is no longer being used. After about a 15-minute walk, I arrived at the old foundation. I seen Jim talking to someone, it was a friend of his and a member of our club. His name was also Jim and we meet around a month ago at one of our club functions…. what a small world! This story gets good right off the bat…he hands me a silver coin that he just found and it was a good one….silver and old… real old. It turned out to be an early English silver…It was the size of a silver US half but had no date….With Jim now being video taped and excited about his find, I just said "that’s a nice find now its my turn" and laughed....……I turned on the detector and off I went ……but its gets better. After finding a few old beer can tops left by some old woodland beer drinkers! I pulled out a detectorests treat!!! and it was one of those finds on the old have to find list….this beautiful “SNY” pre Civil War Belt Plate. Now I was more surprised than anyone….right after Jim found what is definitely a first for him , I also find a first Plate of this type and my second to date.

   After doing a little research on this plate on the web , here is some information on this particular plate…….
   The design follows the Regulation 1839 and was intended for New York troops. This large plate with well formed thin letters and wire hooks, would appear to date well before the war to the "Dragoon" period, however none of these have been found at any Civil War sites. Apparently these plates with the belts and cartridge boxes, were trapped in a warehouse somewhere in New York and simply missed the war, even though troops in the field could certainly have used them. Designed for a 2 inch belt, the plate was die struck on thin brass sheet, solder filled, wire hooks are right handed (two wire hooks under the "S"). These plates were made in the 1840’s and were used up to the Civil war. With all that said....there is mixed reviews regarding this buckle....some sites say it was used during the Civil War and some say it was pre Civil War. I guess will have to just keep digging............! http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~scprnyz/Uniform_Guidelines.html

   I know one thing, I was surprised to see it and never expected it!!! The rest of the day we all found some nice stuff including a nice bell, a couple of old dresses pins (one the shape of a heart) and the other with a floral design. Sorry I don’t have picks of their items but I’m sure they will be posted.

The large cent is an 1839 the Indian 1892 , wheat’s are 1909,1916 they were found at another cellar hole on the property….

   .All in all, it was a terrific day with plenty of nice Relics and a couple of firsts to go along with it…………..

   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9dkDtHE6Vk

   Keep in Digging!!! John