This past Saturday, Danny, Ron and I revisited the small cabin site where Danny dug the 62nd British Regiment of Foot Button two weeks ago. We had high hopes as we marched to the site on the snowy trail! Snow in May!All three of us are swinging Deus machines now and we got to work to see if lightening could strike again. It wasn't long until Ron recovered a Blow Hole button of which I was immensely jealous as I had never found one. I'm not jealous anymore because a few minutes later I got a whisper under a fallen tree limb. I kicked the tree limb out of the way and got a banging 85 on the Deus. I was thinking coin but it turned out to be MY first Blow Hole button.
Before recovering the Blow Hole button I had dug another pewter button. It was actually my first signal at the cabin. It was faint and very deep at about 8 - 9 inches. I showed it to Danny and we both thought it was a plain pewter button. I thought the shank was degraded. I didn't notice until I got home and started cleaning it that it had a turret shank. I checked Don Troiani's book and couldn't believe my eyes. It looked like I had found a 1777 - 1778 Continental Army French Contract pewter button with a turret shank!
The next day I emailed Don and he confirmed that I had indeed found a Revolutionary War Button!
In 1777 the Continental Congress ordered 40,000 suits of clothing from French clothiers. The coats were fitted with pewter, plain face, turret shank buttons. George Washington's aides held a lottery to determine which states lines would receive the suits. This is why they are called Lottery Coats. Here's several photos of my 1777 - 1778 French Contract "Lottery Button"........
I didn't post my finds from the week before but Danny and I had hit an old site that has seen many coils. Danny found an amazing coin weight with a silversmith's touchmark.
I found a 1697 French Liard on the lip of that old hole.
It looks like 1693 in the last photo but further cleaning confirmed it was a 1697.
I think the Universe is telling me I need to learn how to speak French!
Vive La France!
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