Button age?

[GerryL]

Hi all! Today I went out for an hour or so before dark; my wife and I were checking out a site that had a house from the late 1700's through mid 1800's. Got lots of iron, a broken up stove, barrel bands, nails, etc but on one of my 'just one more targets' my wife popped this nice button out of the ground. I'm really not familiar with buttons like this. Can anyone tell me if the construction style puts it in this timeframe? I'm trying to determine if it's that old. Any thoughts on what the material is? I really like it anyway.
Thanks! -Gerry

 

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[kdismuke1]

nice button.

 

[hollowpointred]

i would think it would be late 1700s early 1800s but ive never seen a shank with that "sheath" type material at the bottom before. unusual.

 

[RELICDUDE07]

http://ourpasthistory.com/Gallery/tombac

 

[West Jersey Detecting]

Congratualtions! You found a tombac button! They were popular from about 1780(?)-1800.

Here is a good link with info on these types of buttons: http://www.tias.com/articles/buttons/archives/97_11_02/articles.html

 

[Born Free]

Beautiful button in great condition. You have a great place to dig!

Born Free

 

[VERMONTPACKRAT]

Love the Tombac button!! Buttons are right up there next to coins for me as favorite things to find.



VPR

 

[burglarifyoulike]

congrats on the beautiful button! sure glad you hit that "just one more..."

 

[GerryL]

Thanks guys, and thanks for the great links; informative!
I have to say this is one of my favorite finds. I just got back into MD after about a 10 year break when I sold my first detector. I got a nice unit on a trade and can feel the addiction! I got a pinpointer too, which I've never had. Wow does that speed things up. Robin even thought it was awesome and grabbed the digger and pinpointer. I marked the spot, she recovered....smoooth operation. :-D She enjoys it much more using the pinpointer. I'm just gonna have to check her pockets! :-)

 

[Colonial Copper Zeus]

Nice button for sure. Welcome back to the hobby. It's alot like riding a bike . You never forget. Watch out for the addiction fever though. It's contagious.
Chris

 

[crazyjarhead]

Nice tombac button. Beautiful even in todays standards

 

[allen]

really neat button...

 

[JerV3]

Nice button,

Yes your in that time frame. Pre 1800 button you got there. It is made of pewter and has no back marking.

HH Jer