It's the field that keeps on giving

bearbqd

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Joined
Jan 12, 2006
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Shenandoah Valley
It was my day off yesterday so I drove the 40 minutes to my new favorite spot. The same one that I have been finding numerous civil war relics. Apparently it was a large encampment area. Found several .69 cal minies for starters, my favorite big bullet. Forty minutes into my hunt I got another good bullet signal. I cleared away about 5 inches and stuck in my pinpointer and listened to that beautiful tone. 7 ferrous/ 25 cond. Yep, definitely another bullet, I carefully plucked dirt around it with my knife being careful not to nick it like I did to three of them last week. I was very surprised when I flicked up my last chunk of dirt and saw something oval and flat pop out. I thought it was a flattened coin at first but then saw the hole that a necklace chain goes through. Cool, some sort of medalion. At first I was really excited because I thought it was a rare i.d. tag which very few soldiers actually had, but after cleaning off some dirt I saw that it was in fact a catholic religious medallion, apparently copper considering the patina. It has Spanish writing around the edges on front and back. I'm sorry I can't get a close up shot of it. My camera isn't the greatest.

Just three feet from the button I got another good signal but definitely not bullet numbers. Hmmm...Dug out a plug and out popped a very small button. This one is my coolest button yet. I assume its a cuff button because of its size. Its a half sphere shape, has the union eagle on it and lots of its gold plated gilt left. It has stars all around the perimeter which, correct me if anyone knows differently, I think signifies it is an officers button. Again, sorry I can't get any close ups of it.

Two of the bullets of note: one is very chewed on, but pretty rare. It's a exploding round. The other has been heavily whittled on by some bored soldier. I also found another nap sack hook piece and rivet piece.

Unfortunately I think I gotta leave this field alone for a little while. The ground cover has gotten so thick in a week that its barely workable now. I know I missed a lot of good hits because of it.

The foreground bullets and stuff around them in the last picture are of everything I have found in that field so far. The items behind them are just some of my other best items. Enjoy!
 

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Wow. Bearbqd. Now thats one nice civil war collection. I am amazed at all the bullets you have found and probably allot of men died defending the rights of all people no matter what race, or creed. It is goo dto see they are not just sitting in the ground waiting to deteriorate. I admire that, keep it up thanks for the picts. smg
 
Woah.

I would to love to just get 1 or 2 musket balls from the Revolutionary War!

You have a ton of bullets. Are you going to donate some to your local museum?
 
Thanks for the comments fellas. I just bought a couple of old picture frames today that I'm going to make displays out of. As for the museums, I think they have enough. There are civil war relic dealers with open shops in Harpers Ferry selling a ton of this stuff. I think I'll hang on to what I have.

I'm really looking forward to Sunday. I've been invited to a private residence of about 5 acres very close to where I found all of my most recent finds. His house is a couple of years old, but the property was just farm land before they developed a little there. All good possible encampment locations there.
 
Bear have been reading your posts and pics and am absolutely enthralled and a bit jealous.. up here, especially in lower NY, all teh cool stuff is way buried by fill at this point... that stuff is awesome..

PS-- Is that a BONE on the right hand side of the pic????
 
PS-- Is that a BONE on the right hand side of the pic????

It sure is Johnny man. I thought it was interesting because it had been extensively chewed on by some critter. I was told animals do this for calcium. Thanks for the kind words. Like I said before, I'm very fortunate to live in a civil war rich area. I'll keep diggin and keep the posts and pics coming.
 
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