A couple of pennies and ??

JimR_TN · Jan 26, 2020

I had a good day today. I was cold, but I was out and digging! Didn't find much, but also very little trash. Mostly the remains of old shotgun shells along with lead from rifles. I did find 2 old wheat pennies, a 1942 and a 1919. Later I found a buckle and an odd heavy piece.

Any idea what type and age that buckle is? And the heavy piece seems familiar, yet I can't place it. Any ideas?

duggap · Jan 26, 2020

Your "stake" is a tent rope tightener. They came out in the early 1880s.

Bayoutalker · Jan 26, 2020

duggap said:
Your "stake" is a tent rope tightener. They came out in the early 1880s.

Dang! You beat me to it.

Cliff

JimR_TN · Jan 26, 2020

Thanks guys!

JimR_TN · Jan 26, 2020

Question, would that type of tent rope tightener be used by the US Army in training during WWII? They were training in my area and I've already heard stories of them being very close to where I'm hunting. In the same area I have found 5 wheat pennies, 4 of 5 were dated 1939-1942. I also found a 1941 Jefferson nickel.

I've also found a ton of 12 gauge shotgun shells so it could just have been hunters.

noluckl · Jan 27, 2020

Buckle

The buckle looks like WWII helmet (steel pot) chin strap buckle. Look at J. Murray website. He does WWII helmet restorations and is an authority on those kind of parts.

noluckl · Jan 27, 2020

Found a pic of one

duggap · Jan 27, 2020

The tent rope tightener was Spanish American war into WWI. Type in U. S. Army tent rope tighteners in Google and you will find a bunch about them. They are not civil war era, regardless of what you might read.

JimR_TN · Jan 29, 2020

Thanks for all the help! This is just an empty wooded area next to a church, but with the WWII helmet chin strap (thanks noluckl), the tent stake and the 1939-1942 coins I think I have stumbled onto a camp that was part of the Tennessee Maneuvers. During WWII the 2nd Army trained in our area and as this particular area was primarily farmland they had exercises here.

https://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/entries/second-army-tennessee-maneuvers/

A couple of pennies and ??

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