Today's River Finds....Eagle I Button, Pinfire Shotgun Cartridge & a Few Bullets!

The Wolf

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Spent the day on the water with VaMark, and a couple more buds. We all managed to take home some nice relics. Mark found his first river buttons, Chris scored his first water relics, Bruce dug over 40 bullets, and we all got sunburned! :D

I scored 12 bullets; .54, .58 & .69 cal 3-ringers, .69 musket balls, and one Washington Arsenal (Star Base) Minnie Ball. Also got a sweet Eagle I Infantry button, the nicest I've ever found, a brass piece to a shoulder scale/epaulette, half of a busted up canteen I pulled out of the mud, a horseshoe, and my very first Pinfire shotgun cartridge. The stamp reads " Eley Bros. * London, 12".

I don't know much about pinfire cartridges, maybe you guys can help. Turtlefoot??? I'd like to know for sure if this headstamp dates civil war.

Thanks for looking!
 

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That Eagle I is Amazing!!:shock: and the pin fire is really cool, I've never seen them before. Congrats on a great day man.... now where did I put that aloe stuff for this sun burn???:lol:
 
That Eagle I is Amazing!!:shock: and the pin fire is really cool, I've never seen them before. Congrats on a great day man.... now where did I put that aloe stuff for this sun burn???:lol:

Found your picture online.
 

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Ach! You Virginia cats are killing it, like New Englanders and their Colonial coinage!


Congrat's!
 
Hey Wolf, I checked out your pinfire on a website I have bookmarked and it showed yours to be mid 19th century so it is definitely period. WTG
 
Hey Wolf, I checked out your pinfire on a website I have bookmarked and it showed yours to be mid 19th century so it is definitely period. WTG

Awesome! I know Eley Bros made them for both sides during the war, but they also continued to make them into the early 1900s. So I wasn't sure. Thanks a bunch! The cool thing is... you look at the 12 on the stamp and automatically think 12 gauge, but it actually refers to 12 millimeters.
 
Cool beans dude! That's a killer button I wish they would come out of the ground like that. I was getting real close to getting set up to hunt the creeks/rivers/swamps when I had to take a pause with my relic hunting years ago. I had even started taking diving lessons but that had to end shortly after starting. I've been thinking about it again and it's difinatly something I want to pursue before to long. I just need some money LOL to make it happen. There is so much water here in Va that just has to be crammed chock full of stuff. I'm sure you guys that have been doing it for awhile haven't found it all yet. :no:

I remember a couple of my buddies I used to hunt with started doing it shortly after I quit and MAN! some of the pictures of the stuff they took with their under water cameras of the bottom of the river where they were diving almost made me sell my business and beg them to take me back in to their ring of hunting friends. Not many people were doing it back then so they had pretty easy picking but things are so different now with the government watching everything you do and with so many people getting into the game it's getting harder and harder to come across good honey holes that are full of relics.

I've been thinking about buying a good machine to hunt a few creeks that are close to the house and was wondering what your thoughts or opinions are on which would be a good machine to go with. I noticed that Fisher in your pics, is that a waterproof model? How does it match up with the AT Pro?
 
Cool beans dude! That's a killer button I wish they would come out of the ground like that. I was getting real close to getting set up to hunt the creeks/rivers/swamps when I had to take a pause with my relic hunting years ago. I had even started taking diving lessons but that had to end shortly after starting. I've been thinking about it again and it's difinatly something I want to pursue before to long. I just need some money LOL to make it happen. There is so much water here in Va that just has to be crammed chock full of stuff. I'm sure you guys that have been doing it for awhile haven't found it all yet. :no:

I remember a couple of my buddies I used to hunt with started doing it shortly after I quit and MAN! some of the pictures of the stuff they took with their under water cameras of the bottom of the river where they were diving almost made me sell my business and beg them to take me back in to their ring of hunting friends. Not many people were doing it back then so they had pretty easy picking but things are so different now with the government watching everything you do and with so many people getting into the game it's getting harder and harder to come across good honey holes that are full of relics.

I've been thinking about buying a good machine to hunt a few creeks that are close to the house and was wondering what your thoughts or opinions are on which would be a good machine to go with. I noticed that Fisher in your pics, is that a waterproof model? How does it match up with the AT Pro?

Thanks! I like having both machines. The At Pro is awesome for shallow water, creeks, etc. Especially in areas where there is a bit of trash where you would need the screen to predict what the target is. However it's only waterproof to 10ft. For the deeper water and less trashy spots, I prefer the CZ-21, the Fisher in the photo. It's waterproof to 200ft, however I'm never going that deep. :lol: I would recommend the AT Pro if you just want to get into hunting the shallows. I've only had mine out for a few trip and have found a good many relics with it. There's definitely relics left out there. You're doing quite well in the woods. Happy hunting! Maybe I'll see ya around sometime.
 
Great finds! I love the old pinfire head. One source stated that Eley Brothers with the raised headstamp will date from 1861-1874. Being found in an area with other Civil War relics, I personally feel that it is a safe bet that it is from the Civil War.

GREAT FIND!
Doug
 
Correction... The 12 on the stamp does refer to 12 Gauge. Apparently there were shotgun and handgun pinfire cartridges. The handgun cartridges are measured in mm, and the shot shells are in gauges. Thanks to Turtlefoot for clearing this up.
 
Great set of finds. It's odd, until recently I've never seen or heard of a pin fire round. Recently they had an episode of Pawn Stars (I think it was them) where they mentioned it. Since that episode I've seen 2 or 3 of them posted here. IDK, maybe I just never payed attention to them before. Congrats.
 
Great set of finds. It's odd, until recently I've never seen or heard of a pin fire round. Recently they had an episode of Pawn Stars (I think it was them) where they mentioned it. Since that episode I've seen 2 or 3 of them posted here. IDK, maybe I just never payed attention to them before. Congrats.

Thanks! They're not very common. I've seen a few here and there. Love that Tool avitar by the way.
 
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