We lived in Yorktown Virginia in ‘60 & ‘61. . I bought a pistol at a yard sale for $10 that someone had found on the Yorktown battlefield. I had an expert look at it and he said it had been made in the early 1700’s in France.
It probably was used in the Revolutionary War and someone probably died right where it was found.
I spent a lot of time walking on the York River bank and I found some cannonball fragments but they were probably Civil War.
The pistol is missing the barrel but the etched brass and carved wooden handle are intact. It is one of my favorite artifact. I would loved to have found it myself.
That is very cool.