My Best Day So Far This Year

[Dcraun]

Got out for nearly 4 hours today despite the wind. I was looking for a new colonial spot but wondered over some civil war artifacts before I found it. Good finds and one of the most enjoyable days I have had out.

[JCR]

Those are some nice relics & lead.  I really like the casket key. What do you suppose the Bronze piece is from & marked L3?

[F350Platinum]

Great stuff DC! Worthy 4 hours to start the year. 👍

[Geologyhound]

Nice haul of lead!  I am curious about the gap in the picture separating two groups of finds.  Is the group which appears to have three flat buttons from a separate area?  I am also curious about the shank style and type of metal on the flat buttons.  You might have found your colonial spot after all.

[Wild Bill]

A once in a lifetime occurrence!

[Dcraun]

1 hour ago, Geologyhound said:

Nice haul of lead!  I am curious about the gap in the picture separating two groups of finds.  Is the group which appears to have three flat buttons from a separate area?  I am also curious about the shank style and type of metal on the flat buttons.  You might have found your colonial spot after all.

You have a great eye for detail people like you are the reason I love this form. The reason for the gap is that the three buttons and bullets were found by my detecting partner. When we go on new ground we like to divide and conquer I just happened to walk over top more items than he did that day. and you are correct those are colonial buttons. Maybe he stayed more true to the original mission!

[abenson]

If I'm not mistaken the bullets you found are Gardners. Those would be from Confederate troops. The .58 caliber is fairly common but .69 caliber, if you find any are alot harder to come by.

[Dcraun]

12 hours ago, JCR said:

Those are some nice relics & lead.  I really like the casket key. What do you suppose the Bronze piece is from & marked L3?

I wish I had more information on the brass/bronze piece. Here's a couple more pictures of it with a quarter for scale. The backside is rough from casting and was never ground smooth.

[Bedrock Bob]

44 minutes ago, abenson said:

If I'm not mistaken the bullets you found are Gardners. Those would be from Confederate troops. The .58 caliber is fairly common but .69 caliber, if you find any are alot harder to come by.

That's how I understand it. Two grooves are confederate bullets, three are Union. Two or three rings are from the breech loaders. They used the big fatties on both sides at the beginning of the war but they switched to smaller bore rifles pretty quickly.

The .69 balls were fairly common at the start of the war but the .69 minnie is as rare as hens teeth.