I headed out for a much needed hunt with a buddy yesterday afternoon after work. He gained permission to hunt a large area that use to serve as a mission in the mid to late 1800’s. The ground was littered with iron signals. I hunt with the CTX 3030 and a wide open screen with zero discrimination so I can hear every bit of iron in the ground. I was digging every repeatable signal with not much hope of finding anything outstanding, I was just happy to be out swinging. I got a signal that I would not normally dig (12-24) but I sure am glad that I did.
The target was pinpointed perfectly and was right at the bottom of my plug about 7 inches down. Completely expecting the target to be a pull tab, I was very surprised to see a button looking back at me. As I wiped a bit of the dirt off the small button I thought I could see the figure of an eagle. I rubbed a little more and could see some gold shining through. I flipped it over and could see that the shank was still intact and that there were letters saying “EXTRA QUALITY”. I thought surely I hadn’t found a civil war button in far North Texas (almost into Oklahoma) right in the middle of town. I didn’t want to rub it too much so I packed it up and took it home for further investigation. Since I am in no way a civil war or relic expert, I posted my find on treasure net to see if my buddies on there could give me an ID. Sure enough, the civil war/button guys started giving me feedback immediately. It turns out that I have unearthed a 3-piece Cuff Size US Army Staff Officers button. This button would have only been worn by ranks above Captain. The button experts told me that this find is MUCH rarer than a standard Civil War era “eagle button”. Needless to say, I’m stoked to find such a cool button for my FIRST ever eagle button. I love how the CTX 3030 is able to pick out good targets in the middle of a solid iron field! Thanks for looking and good luck out there Minelabbers!
Andrew - Texas, USA