Interesting day!

[pulltabsteve]

At the crack of dawn Mike and I headed out to the old field. It was just plowed and the walking was kind of tough today. We lost a lot of depth because we had to swing above the clumps. Most of my finds today were only an inch or two deep. I got 2 interesting buttons which I will need help indentifying. HI DAN :waving: I also got the KG which was sitting on top of a clump of dirt! No digging required. :grin: I lightly cleaned the buttons and KG. I will try to clean them a bit more if needed for identification.

Later in the day we headed up to a local farm. We have permission from the son to detect this place. He also has a 100 year old farm in another town that we will be hunting soon. The son wasn't there but we talked to the Dad. He was really cool and very interested in the things we find. The location of this place is a 2 mile road in the historic district of town. His family is the oldest living family on the road. He had to run about 1/4 mile up the road to his Moms house to cut up some firewood so he told us to follow him and we could detect her property. |:cheering: We detected for a bit and found nothing but clad. The Mom, the son, Mike and I sat at the picnic table talking about the history of the road. Its like we knew eachother for years. The even offered us lunch. All the houses on the road used to be farms in the 1800s. Across the street was the original post office of the town. He got us permission to hunt that place before we left. He said he will get us permission to hunt the whole street! :bananadance: All in all a great day. Had fun and met some new friends.

[CTDirtFisher]

PullTabSteve, :congrats: on the finds...

I know you button with the Phoenix on it... I recovered one out on LI as well...

http://www.americandetectorist.com/forum/index.php?topic=9377.msg105593#msg105593

Stack's : (ca. 1832-33) Oregon Territory Phoenix button. Brass. Rulau-E Ore 5 var. Very Fine. (1542692810)

Metal buttons bearing the Phoenix bird, the motto Je Renais De Mes Cendres which roughly translates to I rise from my own ashes. A number have been found in quantity in historic sites along the lower Columbia River, and less commonly throughout western North America. Phoenix buttons were not made for Napoleon, as often claimed, but were manufactured by an English firm in the early 1800's for King Christophe of Haiti. The Phoenix bird and the motto come from his coat of arms; the numbers refer to regiments. These military uniform buttons were brought to the Northwest before 1835 by an independent trader, most likely Nathaniel Wyeth, who probably used uniform coats, which he may have obtained earlier when shipping ice to the West Indies, to trade for fish for his salmon packing plant on the Columbia River.

[CTDirtFisher]

[attach=1]

Je Renais De Mes Cendres
Posted on January 13, 2010 at 4:09 PM
I was reading a post this morning about a somewhat unusual button bearing the likeness of a phoenix rising from ashes. The somewhat rare button, known as a Haitian Phoenix button was posted less than 24 hours after yesterday's earthquake in Port au Prince, Haiti. The inscription on the button Je Renais De Mes Cendres roughly translates to I rise from my own ashes.

I thought it would be appropriate to reprint a past post regarding the button as a tribute to those who have perished and those who are suffering in Haiti today.

Quest For The Phoenix
By Jason Joseph

I bought my first detector in 1995. I was in the military at the time stationed in Monterey, CA. My interests’ right from the beginning was old coins and relics. I really didn't know much about research at the time, so I just went around old buildings in the old parts of town looking for coins and relics. One of the first places I took my detector was The Presidio Chapel. This was an original Spanish Mission period church that dated to the late 1700'ds. There was a large athletic field that was also still original ground, there was a lot of modern trash, but every now and then an old goody would turn up at this place. My first time hunting this place was very early on in my life as a compulsive metal detectorist. I hadn't even found a wheat penny or a silver coin of any kind.

I started turning up the usual trash, and clad coins. This field is riddled with gophers, so the old stuff can be right on top of the ground or 10 deep. After a couple of hours I found a small button lying right on top of the ground. It looked old, but I had no idea of what I had found. I could see that there was some writing on the front, but the button was somewhat corroded, so I couldn't make it out. Once home, I took a toothpick .and started removing the corrosion. The design of the button started to become clear. There was a small bird in the middle with the words, JE RENAIS DE MES CENDRES. around it. Under the bird was No. 29. Not being too fluent in French, my first task was to find out what the inscription translated to. After a little research I came up with a translation of I rose from my own ashes. I tried to research what the button was and what it was used for, but being so new to the hobby; I quickly hit a dead end.

The button would sit in my collection for a few more months, and it wasn't until I joined the local metal detecting club did I found out what I had found. A fellow club member and future hunting partner who had been hunting these mission era sites for over 10 years identified the button as a cuff sized Phoenix Button, and also gave me a brief history of the button. Little did I know that this one small find would become somewhat of an obsession of mine.

Henry Christophe became the king of Haiti in 1807. For 12 years prior to these Haitian slaves revolted against their European masters and in this timeframe defeated the English, Spanish and French. In 1802 the French anchored 225 ships in the harbor with 60,000 troops to put down the revolt. The Haitians were greatly outmanned and outgunned, but somehow managed to defeat the French, and by 1803 the French army was spent. Thomas Jefferson quickly took advantage of Napoleon and a French army in desperate need of cash, and convinced him to sell the Louisiana territory for 15 million dollars. Known as the Louisiana Purchase, this was probably the greatest land bargain in history.

Christophe reigned as king until 1820 when he became ill, and was too weak to put down a coup. He committed suicide that same year. The phoenix was Christophe's coat of arms. All of his troops were outfitted with uniform buttons and buckles with this phoenix design. The numbers at the bottom of the buttons denoted the regiment number. The buttons are numbered 1-30 with 11-13, 15-19 and 21-24 being skipped. There is no concrete evidence of why these numbers were skipped. One theory is they were skipped intentionally to fool enemies into believing the army was larger than it really was.

At this point the history of the Phoenix Button becomes somewhat cloudy. After Christophe's death the button maker or maker’s apparently sold the undelivered buttons to a trading company bound for the West Coast of the United States. Very little information is available about the manufacturer of these buttons. The only buttons with back marks are the ball variety, and allure back marked &quot:beerbuddy:USHBY LONDON. No records have been found on this English company, so whether they were the only maker is unclear.

Nathaniel Wyeth a trader of the time was in the process of setting up a trading post on Sauvies Islandnear present day Portland, Oregon. It is generally accepted that he was the one that the buttons were sold to in England. One of the ships believed to be carrying the buttons made a stop in Hawaii, and one of the buttons was found in Hawaii several years ago. The mysterious thing is, the regimental number on the button has never been found anywhere else.

Almost all of the buttons made their way to Wyeth's trading post. Here they were believed to be traded to the Indians for furs and salmon. The Indians in turn traded with other tribes, and eventually the buttons made their way up and down the West Coast. The buttons have been found at period sites from Alaska to Southern California. Of the 10 or so buttons that have been reported east of the Rocky Mountains, 3 have come from Virginia. Why this is, is anyone's guess. The remaining buttons have been single finds in various states. These single losses could easily be explained as being lost by people making their way back from the West Coast. However, the 3 in Virginia would suggest some kind of link between the original source and Virginia.
Much of the accepted theory on the Phoenix Buttons can be accredited to Emory Strong, who was a button collector and amateur archaeologist from the Portland Oregon area. He passed away several years ago, and not much research has been done since. He devised a system to describe the buttons based on the different types. The disc style buttons came in 3 sizes: 17, 25 and 26mm, and were made of polished brass. They were 1 piece die stamped brass buttons with a soldered back loop. The ball variety came in two sizes; 13 and 17mm and were made of copper with a silver gilting. Strong's system puts the buttons into 3 types, with typeI and II having 3 styles. Type I is the button found most, and all of the photos in this article are type I except the ball variety. Type 2 is similar totype I except between the bird and regiment number is a crossed cannon and mortar. Type III is the ball variety of button. The system was designed to describe a button without having to write all of the details out. Example:II3s2 would be a type II, style 3 small, regiment number 2.

Why these buttons have peaked my interest so much is beyond me. It's probably a combination of the beautiful design and the very interesting history associated with the buttons. Although your chances of finding a button anywhere except the west coast Islam at best, they are out there so keep your eyes peeled. I caution you though once you find one, the quest for the Phoenix might just become an obsession. ---JJ

[del]

hey Steve your first button posted looks to be either of military or patriotic by design but i can't make out enough detail to tell which it is . :dontknow: it does look pretty early though and a good one . |:cheering: |:cheering:

[pulltabsteve]

I just cleaned it up a bit more. On the bottom it says INDEPENDENT CADETS. And the banner across the middle it says E PLURIBUS UNUM.

[OxShoeDrew]

Steve, I tried to find some info on that coin, thankfully DirtFisher was able to help you out. That was a really nice day you had. Thanks for posting :waving:

[del]

Well , it would be a very boring life if i was right all the time lol lol


wording at the top MONSTRAT VIAM bottom wording INDEPENDENT CADETS the wording on the ribbon in the eagle's beak E PLURIBUS UNUM on the back Armfield & Son . From my research MONSTRAT VIAM, meaning It Points the Way is the motto for The First Corps of Cadets of Massachusetts formed in 1741, used various alternate names, with Independent Cadets being used from 1803-1840.
the backmark list this maker made buttons from 1790 to about 1855 but it definately looks older that 1825 and could even be as old as around the War of 1812 , its a great button Steve , would love to see it all cleaned up .

Dan

[pulltabsteve]

Thanks CTDirtfisher and Dan for the IDs :clapping: I will try to get more of the dirt off of them.

[CTDirtFisher]

Thanks CTDirtfisher and Dan for the IDs :clapping: I will try to get more of the dirt off of them.


Steve, I've been to the farm fields in the Hampton's a few times... That dirt is like superman super glue isn't it... I have a few coppers and IH pennies that I could never get it off of...

Respectfully,
Paul

[pulltabsteve]

Steve, I've been to the farm fields in the Hampton's a few times... That dirt is like superman super glue isn't it... I have a few coppers and IH pennies that I could never get it off of...

Respectfully,
Paul


Hey Paul, Its more like cement... I've been to the fields on the north fork and the south fork. The dirt is terrible. Some of the coppers and buttons are almost impossible to ID, but the Reales are always nice |:cheering:

[mike l]

Steve, that button is awesome :congrats:. Can you get a date on the King George? Great day of hunting, looking forward to hitting the new spots!

[pulltabsteve]

Steve, that button is awesome :congrats:. Can you get a date on the King George? Great day of hunting, looking forward to hitting the new spots!


Thanks Mike! The KG is a little difficult to get a date off of... The new spots are going to be sweet. Don't forget the 2 river houses too :happydance01:

[CODY]

Great finds. Congrats

[aloldstuff]

Isn't this hobby great. Making some great finds and making new friends. :congrats: on the hunt and looking forward to more from that street.