✅ SOLVED Button questions

[TNGUNS]

The plated button says W. Willis....Plated I think. Just wondered if it is British manufactured or American an if it dates about the same as the other Penny Buttons I have been finding at the site( Early 1800's ) ? Also wondered if the broken button is pewter as it appears to be a much different metal than the normal Penny Buttons I find. What is origin and approximate date of the broken button? Think I found site at Register of Deeds office as either 1809 or 1814 but no map just plat. Not gonna make much difference on the dating but more for curiosity.




Pewter?

 

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[creskol]

I think that is probably a British backmark. I have seen other buttons marked W.Wallis - Extra Fine that were dated to the 1820-1828 time frame.

 

[FoundInNC]

The second button is tombac, they date from the late 1700s-very early 1800s

 

[timekiller]

Here's a site for them some on here don't like but it good for a close call..................Button Back Marks
I've got a couple few of them & that date range seems fine for what they say.The other is a straight up tombac button.Not pewter.

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

I've previously recommended that button diggers & collectors should buy the inexpensive ($25) book on button-backmark dating. It is "American Military Button Makers and Dealers: Their Backmarks & Dates" by William F. McGuinn and bruce S. Bazelon.

That book has two entries which are relevant to your first button's backmark:
George W. Wallis was a button dealer (not manufacturer) in Philadelphia from 1825 to 1831. No "G.W. Wallis" backmarked buttons are currently known to exist.
William W. Wallis was a button manufacturer in Birmingham England from 1790 to at least 1825. The McGuinn-&-Bazelon book lists eight "W.Wallis" backmarks.

Therefore, the odds highly favor your 1-piece brass button being British-made. Because its "W.Wallis / Plated" backmark has indented lettering, it dates from approximately 1810 to the presumed end of Wallis's business in 1825.

By the way, the term "Plated" in early-to-mid-1800s backmarks means silverplated, not goldplated. In that era, the term "Gilt" was used for goldplated metal.

There iis much debate about what metal your second (broken) button is made of. Some people say it is Tombac ...which is a brass alloy containing more copper than typical brass does. Other people (including me) believe it is a tin alloy which is similar to pewter but is known as Britannia Metal. It is different from pewter in that it contains approximately 92% tin, 6% antimony, and 2% copper.
britannia metal (alloy) -- Britannica Online Encyclopedia
Britannia metal - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

As both the Encylopdoa Britannica and the Wikipedia entries say, Britannia Metal was typically formed by shaping it on a spinning lathe ("spun") rather than by casting. The back of your button clearly shows that it was shaped on a spinning lathe.

An additional clue is, these Britannia Metal buttons often come out of the ground

 

[TNGUNS]

Thanks again to TheCannonBallGuy for his help and input. Will try to get off my rump and get the book. Looks like your post was not finished. The button is definitely different than the pewter I have dug in the past as it has almost no oxidation although it may be a little discolored it is very smooth in its feel compared to pewter, brass, or copper as they oxidize. Does it date about the same as the others?

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

My reply was indeed unfinished. My decrepit old keyboard quit while I was typing, so all I could do was use the mouse to click "Post" (as-is). You replied before I could re-start my computer (which temporarily fixes the keyboard's software problem) and get back here to finsih my post.

The chopped-off final sentence was about what you've now mentioned ...lack of corrosion/patina. The last sentence (and paragraph) was going to say:
An additional clue is, these Britannia Metal buttons often come out of the ground showing no corrosion/patina, particularly on their lathe-spun back. They come out of the dirt still looking smoothly silvery-grey, despite having been buried for about 200 years. That doesn't happen with copper/brass/tombac.

Now, about the question you asked in your reply:
Because Britannia metal production began in the 1770s, these "spun" Britannia Metal buttons can date as much as 30 years earlier than the 1-piece brass buttons. I said "can" because the spun Britannia buttons were still being produced in the early-1800s, at the same time as the 1-piece brass buttons.

 

[timekiller]

This site here will help you on most of your earlier type buttons,just spend a little time on it........................UK Finds Database - - - UKDFD

Here's a post I made that show quite a few of the even earlier type pewter buttons that can be found also on the site above.http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/my-best-finds/288009-who-else-finds-pewter-buttons.html
Take Care,
Pete,

 

[TNGUNS]

Much appreciated timekiller and CannonBall