Relic Hunting - My Best Finds
Common Militia Waist Belt Plate, circa 1832-1845
This interesting relic was discovered at the site of a cellar hole during my metal detecting in the Western Rensselaer County, Upstate New york. Littered with iron junk, the entire area around the cellar hole of a large size was covered with fallen trees and dense vegetation, thus, making relic hunting a serious challenge. It took me a few visits to the site to recover as many relics and coins as possible. A few military uniform buttons from the were dug up as well.
I discovered the Common Militia Belt Plate on my last visit, actually when I was leaving the site, in the middle of the dirt road. I was very exhausted at end of the day but decided not to turn my Minelab Explorer off until I would make some distance between myself and the cellar hole. When I received a shallow signal, I did not expect to find anything old but was pleasantly surprised to recover an artifact that would be admired by any relic colletor.
Dimensions: 55 x 72 mm
Construction: Guild die-struck rolled brass plate with applied brass tongue and belt loop bar. Iron keepers.
Remarks: A predecessor of the panel plates, arrows pointing down generally dates die sinking to 1832-1836. This pattern enjoyed widespread use. Circa 1840 prints by Huddy and Duval show similar stock pattern plates worn by independent companies from Philadelphia and New York.
Courtesy: George Kegerreis
More images of post Revolutionary War, War of 1812, and Civil War relics can be seen in Relics section.