05/01/2026
I found this really interesting pair of military relics a little while ago in some woods behind a friends house. There was a trio of old cellar holes all next to each other, as evidenced by an old map. After persevering for several hours, I finally got a good hit on my new XP Deus II.
It turned out to be a thin, but large-sized brass item with a 5-pointed star. It took me a few seconds, but I realized I was holding the button off the side of a military-grade Shako hat. A few feet away, I got another similarly good signal and it turned out to be the plume off of a Shako hat, which held the feather or pompom upright. That’s two separate pieces from what I presume is the same militia hat. I scanned around the area some more and didn’t hear much of anything else, but I’ll go back and try again soon.
This site was the home of the Darling family back in the 1830s according to an old map, and a little bit of research on the local history lead me to a man named Zekel Darling who may have lost these relics either visiting, passing by, or living at the site. He was a Revolutionary War veteran, but may have acquired a newer uniform at some point. It may have been lost by someone totally different as well, but I’d say it’s more likely to be Zekel’s.
As you can see they cleaned up beautifully, both retaining a fair amount of silver plating. I can imagine how imposing and fashionable this would’ve been back in the 1830s. Like today, being in the military was extremely honorable, but people back then seemed to wear their uniforms out and about more often. I wonder why that seems to be the case?
