Civil War Union Eagle Breastplate Found and Restored!

Today, Washington Tom sent me some pictures of the Union breastplate that he found while on one of our metal detecting tours in December of 2019. At first glance I couldn't believe my eyes. As some of you may remember, Tom found this plate in a plowed field and the plow had given it the appearance of a taco. It was so folded in that for a while no one had any idea what it was. When we got back to the lodge that night we carefully removed some of the dirt to reveal the wings of an eagle inside of the taco! After the hunt Tom set out to find a way to restore this historic treasure back to its original state. This would be where Leonard Short would come into the story. Leonard restores relics such as this and, as you will soon see from the before and after pics, he knows what he is doing. I remember another one of our members had him restore a plate years ago and it turned out great as well. If anyone has a relic you've always wanted restored shoot him an email at relicfix@yahoo.com . Thanks for sharing Tom. Now for the pics!

BEFORE:

AFTER:

AS FOUND (look for taco):

Very impressive.