Any Ideas on This Buttons Age...

[coinman123]

Any Ideas on This Button's Age...

I was putting my metal detectors in the car today when I spotted a button in the dirt next to an 1800's house. Do you have any ideas of the age of this button? It is a two piece button with a stamped design.



Thanks for the Help,
Coinman123,

 

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[TheCannonballGuy]

You asked how old your button is. It has a the "pierced dome" variety of what is called a self-shank back... which (if I recall correctly) was invented and patented sometime in the 1890s.

On your button, the dome's center is broken out.

That form of back was invented to be a very inexpensive alternative to manufacturing buttons with an "applied" loop. In this manufacturing process, a machine simply presses a thin disc of sheetmetal to have a small dome at its center, with two holes pierced into opposite sides of the dome for sewing the button onto clothing. There's no need for the materials-& labor-cost of buying wire, shaping the wire into a loop, and attaching it to the button's back. See the photos below.

 

[civil_war22]

I have had several jackets from the sheriffs office and police department all had the same back. The little looped wire so u could remove it.