Field Hunt: Union General Service Button **Updated - not CW

Got out to my favorite field permission again on Wednesday - it's been tough hunting since it was chisel plowed a week or so ago. Repeatable signals are few and far between compared to when I was hunting in the Spring, and all the signals are jumpy - no solid numbers whatsoever. Early in the hunt, I got over a jumpy mid60s - low70s signal which occasional dipped as low as 50 and as high as 81. That kind of jumpiness gives a junky tone on the Max - alternating quite rapidly between a mid and high tone. But that's "solid" for this field lately, so I dug - and I got rewarded with an Indian, which cleaned up nicely to a 1902

For the next hour and a half I wasn't finding much of anything - small (and large!) bits of brass and some doo-dads, including a complete but plow-mangled fork. A stamp on the back is still partially readable and includes the word "silver", so I imagine it was plated at one time.

Then I noticed an area where the farmer made a big turn with the plow - knowing that this might be an spot were some targets would end up getting left behind by the plow, I started swinging in that area first target was a massive piece of melted brass - the target was so big, I almost didn't dig it because I assumed it had to be trash. No matter where I hit it with the file, it comes up shiny...it's gotta weigh a couple pounds at least!

Next came a "mystery" coin - a very jumpy mid tone, centering on the low to mid 60s, but jumping as high as 75 very intermittently, and as low as upper 50s. I turned a shallow plug, and as I knelt down, I could see the coin had popped out and rolled off to the side. I was hoping for an Indian - maybe a fatty with the lower tones - but I could see right away that it was unusually thin and greenish in color. Too thin even for an Indian, it seemed. Through the dirt, I could barely make out a bust on one side facing the wrong way for an Indian, but otherwise no detail. Maybe a foreign coin of some kind?? No such luck - about 30 seconds into cleaning at home, I revealed the word "Liberty", unmistakably a Lincoln cent But dang it's toasted...I never could clean it up to make out a date. It was in such bad shape and rang up so low that I started to wonder if it was a modern Zincoln, but I managed to clean enough to barely reveal the "EN" from the middle of "CENT" and the vague bit of the left Wheat stalk on the back - definitely a Wheatie. Then I wondered...is this actually a steel cent in relatively good condition for being in the ground?? That moment of excitement was quickly squashed by a magnet...not magnetic, not a steel cent Probably rang too high for that, anyway. Then it dawned on me...I've found a couple good silver coins recently that were ruined by fire - I think this is probably my first cooper coin fire victim.

Ok, the last good find was the one everyone probably clicked to see - not far from the burnt Wheatie, I got a pretty solid mid tone signal, jumpy but tighter numbers than the previous signals, and relatively deep. Most stuff in this field rings up about 2-4" down, but this one was showing 6". I intentionally dug a little shallow, then went the rest of the way with the hand digger. It took a little while to zero in on the target, and after 4" down the ground is a tougher to dig clay. But soon I extricated an odd-shaped clod that had a rounded top. Once I picked it up I could see it was a button - then I saw the eagle! I was instantly thrilled - I haven't seen one in person, but I was pretty sure I had a Civil War button! The back and shank seem to be intact, and interestingly, it seems like someone threaded some thin gauge wire in a couple loops through the shank - almost like a crude key fob??

Looking online at home, it sure looks like a Union general service cuff button, but I haven't done any cleaning at all yet to get a peek at the backmark. I've never cleaned one, so I'll be looking for some cleaning advise first. For right now, I'm ecstatic to potentially have my first true Civil War military item! This is also the same field were I found a heavily degraded medal from the Washington Inauguration Centennial that was engraved with a soldier's name on the back - it's fascinating to wonder whether this button may well have belonged to him as well!

Thanks for reading and looking!