1830's - 1840's Pattern Naval Wreath

Relichunter

Cadet
Joined
Aug 8, 2020
For my first post I will share my recent find from the Sierra foothills in California. On this day I spotted what appeared to be a man made flat area or camp form the 1840s-1850s. This area was worked by gold miners as there was plenty of evidence of it. I took a hike up a a small gully and spotted it and decided to scan the area. At first I was picking up some square nails, bits of rusted out tin cans which gave me evidence this was a individuals camp. After about 20 minutes a got a strong wide shallow signal and anticipated another rusty object , to my surprise a beautiful wreath was excavated!! After some research I concluded it was an early 1830s pattern Naval wreath, still has some gold gilt on it on spots and what appears to be a 51 perhaps the makers marker number I am not sure as of yet at what it stands for. According to Norm Flaydermans book on early military belt buckles of this era the pattern was modeled after earlier Army regimental officers belt buckles. Of course I can be wrong on all this as I am no expert. If anyone has additional information i would appreciate the contribution.

1830s Naval Belt Buckle 1.jpg


1830s Naval Belt Buckle.jpg


1830s Naval belt Buckle 2.jpg
 
Nice wreath. The 51 is a bench mark. The tongue will have a matching number. When they were cast they were cast in groups and then put in a tumbler to help smooth out the rough parts of the casting. Since they were cast together the number would be used to match them back up after they were taken out of the tumbler.
 
ucvrelics , thank you for clarifying what the number stood for, I also thought makers benchmark but was not 100% sure. I am still search for the tongue hopefully in the future I stumble upon it so the set is complete.
 
"A great looking wreath, it's pretty interesting given where you found it. i wonder if the rest of it is somewhere in the area"

Mofederal, Thanks for the comment, yes it is strange to find these in California but I would assume with California becoming part of the Union all those soldiers, sailors and militia members with past military experience going to the hills to try their luck at gold mining. California did not have as many federal forces but had their volunteer militias that often times were hired to secure the gold fields. I have tried searching for the tongue part of the buckle but as of yet have not located it. It may take many trips back before i locate it.
 
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