Hit The Old Camp Site Again - ID Help Please :)

[Cal_Cobra]

Tom and I were able to get out yesterday for some detecting at the same site we posted a few weeks ago. This time I wanted to test another camp site that wasn't far away from the one we got the eagle tongue and groove buckles at.  It was supposed to be a larger camp, but it pretty much turned out to be a bust.  You could hear iron here and there, and we did get some period conductors, and period iron relics, but nothing to write home about.  We did a fairly good job covering it, it just wasn't a productive site, perhaps someone else detected it before we did.  I wondered back to the camp we detected a few weeks ago to see if I could locate the other half of my eagle buckle that fell out of my finds pouch, and while that didn't pan out, I did find an old eagle button of some sort.  It's a domed one piece cast button, if anyone can ID it, I'd greatly appreciate it. Found another part of an eagle buckle, but no more complete ones on this trip.   The only coin dug (old coin, we did manage to dig some pesky clad on this hunt :? ) was a Chinese cache coin, and possibly a toasted copper coin, but not sure about that.  

Rim fires, musket balls, lead, and hand forged iron and bronze nails/spikes:

One piece eagle button, any ideas on the ID?  

 

No clue what this is, it may have been made from a copper coin?  

Old lock?  It's cast bronze whatever it is, has a part on the top with a spring lever under it.  

 

Couple of iron relics, part of an eagle buckle, love that old copper hand forged hinge:

Every one of these copper bits sounded sweet, all sound like coins and some were super deep!

No idea what this was??? Almost want to say some kind of hunting point, but it has no edge.  

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These are frequently found at old sites in California!

 

No clue what this was used for?  Bezel is silver, appears to be a finished stone, but cannot see where it attached to anything :S

Thanks for looking!
Cal

[Jim Hemmingway]

Hi Cal_Cobra…  well I suppose you might call it a bust, but frankly I enjoyed reading your post and viewing your relic finds. I find that my interest in relic hunting has increased a good deal because of the contributions to the forum from you and others. 

On occasion some remarkable coins and artifacts are recovered, and that is exciting. But I think what attracts me most to relic hunting is the historical significance of the artifacts and how they were used by North America’s native residents, our colonial forefathers, and the following generations who lived each phase of our history. Then too, pursuing the identification of relic finds is a challenge, not to mention the accrued knowledge about these artifacts and related activities from so long ago. 

All this is to let you know that your contributions are much appreciated by us. Incidentally, I’ve found a few of the old Chinese coins over the years as depicted below. It’s all quite interesting to me, please keep up the good work, and thankyou for the just excellent illustrative photos………………..Jim.

[Cal_Cobra]

Hi Jim,

Thanks, I appreciate the kind words.  I like your Chinese cache coins, the one on the right is particularly unusual. 

I was able to ID some of these finds since I posted them thanks to Keith Southern, here's what he said: 

The thing your calling a hunting point is whats left of a trigger guard..it broke at the screw hole.

Big brass piece with spring inside is back casing to pad lock.

Cut coin looks like the ones we find in camp's where they were starting to make a replacement rowel for spur..can be found in varying degrees of completion..even seen spurs with coin rowels installed.

Button seems to be 1820 period US Infantry Militia Uniform Button.Nice!!!

I see you have an earring in first pic...Like the bird on it...Cool one!!

The first site we checked that day was kind of a bust compared to it's sister camp that we detected a few weeks prior, that turned out to be really good.  This new camp site was supposed to be larger, so I had disillusions of grandeur that it was going to have twice the finds, and that was not to be.  Still we detected some old camps in the area we'd previously had success at, and were able to dig some history.  I agree with you that while each hunt doesn't produce a rare coin or rare artifact, that each piece you dig tells a story, and in the process you get to touch some amazing history.  What I enjoy, is after detecting these sites for many years, you're able to put together a display that tells a unique story.  Few people appreciate that (such as my wife ), but the ones that do will generally really enjoy the finds and the history they portray.  

GL&HH,
Cal

[Gerry in Idaho]

Very interesting relics and dodads Cal.  You do my style of digging and I could spend a week swinging and pinging on those trinkets.  The 1 piece eagle is probably pre CW area.  Interesting blob it has on it too??  Yes I think the round flat copper could be a cut large cent as I have found a few back East.  The long item with a busted screw end could be a bottom piece to a rifle?  The Chinese coil as you mention is actually pretty common finds for older sites, but that symbol on the 2nd pic is different than what normally find.  The ear ring is different as I don't find those much.  And the polished stone looks like agate or cut milk glass with silver frame.  All are neat saves my friend and thanks for sharing.

[Cal_Cobra]

Gerry I was able to clean that one piece Eagle button up and it was ID'd in the Alberts book as an 18teens - 1820 U.S. Militia Eagle button!  Here it is after cleaning it, and it came out beautiful, even has some original gold gilt left:

That long piece broken at the screw hole did turn out to be a trigger guard from an old rifle. 

Thanks for taking a look, I ended up having a great hunt on my little road trip last weekend, I'll make a separate post on that one ?

-Brian

[Randy Lunn]

Not my area, but I found this info that looks like your coin from the Ching dynasty. The squiggly “BOO” loopy symbol on the back is the Ching dynasty symbol.

here is a link to a Chinese money ID guide:

http://www.calgarycoin.com/reference/china/chinaid.htm#square hole

 

Emperor HSUAN TSUNG
AD 1821-1850

Reign title: TAO-KUANG, AD 1821-1850

1850

 

[Cal_Cobra]

On 12/13/2018 at 2:32 AM, Randy Lunn said:

Not my area, but I found this info that looks like your coin from the Ching dynasty. The squiggly “BOO” loopy symbol on the back is the Ching dynasty symbol.

here is a link to a Chinese money ID guide:

http://www.calgarycoin.com/reference/china/chinaid.htm#square hole

 

Emperor HSUAN TSUNG
AD 1821-1850

Reign title: TAO-KUANG, AD 1821-1850

1850

 

Thanks for posting that.  Interestingly that dating (1821-1850) coincides with the earlier history of the site we're working.  It had a span of about 100 years, so it makes for some interesting finds.  

GL&HH,
Cal