Winsted native joins national ‘American Digger’ TV team

A Laurel City native who has gained prominence for his expertise with metal detectors has earned a key role on the new national cable reality show, “American Digger.”Bob Buttafuso, 66, said in a phone interview this week that he remembers experimenting with metal detectors as a boy living on Rockwell Street, where he would find old coins and buttons during his regular treasure hunts. After living through the Great Flood of 1955 with his family and graduating from The Gilbert School, Buttafuso entered the Navy and served during the Vietnam conflict before returning stateside and entering the field of computers and data processing. Over the years, Buttafuso’s work took him across the country, eventually landing him in Manassas, Va., where he runs a successful electronics store that sells and repairs metal detectors and trades Civil War relics.While becoming an expert in Civil War finds, Buttafuso also got involved with online buying and selling in the 1990s, and that’s where a new avenue emerged.“When eBay was going strong in the 1990s, I was seeing a lot of relics being sold on their website. I saw a lot of fakes and it was ticking me off, so I started taking them on,” he said.Buttafuso got so sick of seeing fake items being sold online that he launched a website dedicated to teaching buyers about spotting fake Civil War memorabilia and taking down auctions for items that were clearly illegitimate.What Buttafuso didn’t know was he would make an important and lasting connection through the site — wrestling-entertainment superstar Ric Savage had been burned purchasing fake merchandise online and wanted to learn how to prevent that kind of transaction from ever happening again.“That’s how our relationship started,” Buttafuso said.It turns out Savage is a collector of Civil War memorabilia, and he even writes a column on collectibles for the bimonthly American Digger Magazine, called Savage Facts, dealing with topics “in the realm of fake and fantasy militaria.” Through Buttafuso, he learned an array of knowledge on how to spot phony merchandise. In more recent years, Savage has become the team leader of American Savage, a relic-hunting group that scours battlefield areas and historic sites in search of authentic pieces of American history. “American Digger,” which premieres on Spike TV on Wednesday, March 21, at 10 p.m., follows the group to a different city each week to see what comes up.While putting the show together, Savage remembered his old friend Buttafuso and insisted that he become a member of the team.As the most senior member of the American Savage team, Buttafuso brings decades of expertise to the show, but he said he still gets a thrill when Civil War memorabilia turns up during a dig.“When I find an item, to be the first person to hold that in 150 years, that’s what it’s all about,” he said. “If artifacts could talk — wow. I wonder, what happened to that soldier. Was he running? Was he shot at? That’s what I get out of it.”Buttafuso acknowledges that archaeologists — some of whom call relic hunters “looters” — are clearly not keen on the trend of Civil War digging, but he comes from the angle that the items might otherwise never be found at all. And even when they are found, they often are not enjoyed.“Their way, the items goes into a museum and sits in a basement, and nobody sees it,” he said. “We take stuff to a local antique shop and they buy it. That’s the economy. It’s the American way.”The inaugural season of “American Digger” hits Detroit, Chicago, Brooklyn, N.Y., and Jamestown, Va., turning up some items that haven’t been seen for centuries. Savage convinces homeowners to let him dig up their properties, using modern metal detectors and excavation equipment to get the job done. The team then sells the artifacts for profit, consulting experts and negotiating deals. Among the items that turn up are a 17th century British Carronade naval cannon, a 5-million-year-old Megalodon shark’s tooth and a 19th-century Kentucky long rifle. Though he now considers himself a Virginia resident, Buttafuso has returned to Winsted every few years to see his aunt, Helen Simmons, who celebrated her 90th birthday a few years back at the local Knights of Columbus hall. He said Winsted residents can certainly find their share of old coins and buttons by going on metal-detecting hunts, but to get really involved in hunting it’s good to talk to town historians about where the old swimming holes, parks and carnivals were. “Ask the oldest guy in town and he’ll tell you,” he said.Buttafuso added that the ethics of relic-hunting is important and that people shouldn’t be out just to make a quick buck.“You want to cover your holes and take the trash out with you,” he said. “It’s a fun hobby. People who go into it just for the money are going to lose.”