A rather curious flat button

[Dug]

A while back I dug three almost identical flat buttons in the SC Lowcountry. They are about the size of a dime. On the back of them there is an elaborate bm design with a crown which I take to indicate British make, as well as the words "colour gold" in a horseshoe shaped banner. On the best of the three buttons (pictured) I noticed that there is a six sided star and the letter S and what looks like additional letters that start to trail off all on the left side. I had assumed this was a cast button due to the seam yet I don't understand the anomaly of the possible over stamp or overcast as you will?

Anyone have any insight on this button and the curious activity on the left side?

 

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[Kiros32]

Can't help you on an ID but man, what a beautiful backmark!

 

[G.A.P.metal]

English back mark Color is spelled colour,beautyful find ...hope you find more about it .
Gary

 

[Spats]

Underneath the fancy back mark is another back mark that says STANDARD. It may be a case where the company used buttons that were already back marked and stamped new back marks over the old. Or maybe the whole thing goes together and it is meant to read STANDARD GOLD COLOUR.

 

[Dug]

Underneath the fancy back mark is another back mark that says STANDARD. It may be a case where the company used buttons that were already back marked and stamped new back marks over the old. Or maybe the whole thing goes together and it is meant to read STANDARD GOLD COLOUR.

Good eyes on reading the standard. There is also a C or G below the word COLOUR.

The crown, banner and Gold Colour are all raised and so the "Standard" and stars are stamped over it. You can see how one of the stars and the C or G is stamped into the banner. It appears that the "Standard" whatever is near the bottom was added after the button was cast.

Looking closely at the other two buttons I can see faint stampings also but they appear on different areas. Almost if they were counter stamped after production but not very well. I wonder if they are actually counter stamped with "Standard Gilt" as if to comply with some mid or post production rules.

Interesting.

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

The excellent educational book on button-backmarks, "American Military Button Makers And Dealers; Their Backmarks & Dates", talks about the counterstamping of brass 1-piece buttons like yours. That's not actually a casting mold seam, it's the result of the "press" used to make the counterstamp and putting the design on the button's front.