Button?

[thedukeofdelaware]

How old is this, and is it a button? It measures about 3/4 inch in diameter. Thanks!

 

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[Mud Hut]

Man-- that thing is toasted! Can't tell what it is. Maybe a good cleaning will yield more detail.

 

[thedukeofdelaware]

I put it in hot peroxide multiple times...should I keep at it?

 

[Mud Hut]

is it magnetic?

 

[thedukeofdelaware]

Yup!

 

[thedukeofdelaware]

why does that matter if you don't mind me asking? I'm still pretty new if you couldn't tell! Thanks

 

[Mud Hut]

If it is magnetic it is probably iron and probably not a button. Also peroxide won't work to clean it. Try heating some vinegar and soak it in that for a bit.

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

There is one type of button it could be -- but I'm not saying it's a button until it looks like one after proper cleaning. "Four-hole" buttons, commonly used as longjohn underwear-buttons and pants-closure-and-fly buttons, were made of thin stamped sheet-iron, or brass, or zinc, and more recently, aluminum. Iron and brass ones were made sometime before the civil war, and onward right up to today, so there's no way to accurately time-date one unless it has a maker's-marking on it. Again, I'm not saying thedukeofdelaware's rusty thin disc is a 4-hole button, just that iron ones do exist. They are a common find in civil war army campsites... and Span-Am War sites, WW1 sites, etc.

 

[Mud Hut]

There is one type of button it could be -- but I'm not saying it's a button until it looks like one after proper cleaning. "Four-hole" buttons, commonly used as longjohn underwear-buttons and pants-closure-and-fly buttons, were made of thin stamped sheet-iron, brass, zinc, and more recently, aluminum. Iron and brass ones were made sometime before the civil war, and onward right up to today, so there's no way to accurately time-date one unless it has a maker's-marking on it. Again, I'm not saying thedukeofdelaware's rusty thin disc is a 4-hole button, just that iron ones do exist. They are a common find in civil war army campsites... and Span-Am War sites, WW1 sites, etc.

That's a good point! In the ones I have dug that looked that cruddy there wasn't a button left anyway.