✅ SOLVED Found a Flat Button, Not sure of age.

[Retired Fire]

Found this flat button on a farm. The land was settled in the mid 1700's. My best research shows a date range from 1700s to mid 1800s. Drilled Shank. Is there any other details anyone can provide? Much appreciated.

 

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[smokeythecat]

I'd guess third quarter of the 18th century. Any Revolutionary War sites in your area? It's very crudely made, typical of 18th century buttons, especially American made ones. VERY nice button.

 

[Retired Fire]

The shank is not slotted or cracked. That mark is just a line marked on the shank.

 

[Retired Fire]

I'd guess third quarter of the 18th century. Any Revolutionary War sites in your area?

There are a few scattered around but I don't think this area was active.

 

[sutphin]

NICE FIND>>....

 

[Retired Fire]

Thanks!

 

[coinman123]

Nice drilled shank flat button, I agree with smokythecat's date range!

 

[Retired Fire]

Due to two that agreed on the date, Smokythecat and coinman123 I am ruling this solved. Thanks to everyone who gave feedback and commented. This is my oldest button to date.

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Based on what I've read over the years here from various Colonial Era button experts, I think your brass solid-cast flatbutton with integrally-cast drilled shank is from the late-1600s into the early 1700s. By the mid-1700s, soldered wire loop shanks were becoming commonplace, as seen on "blowhole" buttons from that time period.

Also from wht I've seen posted here over the years, your cast-&-drilled 1-piece brass flatbutton is rare. There is some indication that type may be French-made, or Spanish-made. The fact that there were few French and Spanish colonists in America compared to the large number of British colonists may explain the rarity of your button. Seems like if it was British or American-made, we'd find a lot more of them than we do.

I forgot to mention, in researching your button I came across an old T-Net discussion of early-1700s "blowhole" buttons. A couple of drilled-shank brass solid-cast flatbuttons like yours show up among the various posters' photos of the blowhole buttons they've dug.
http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/my-best-finds/216095-blowhole-buttons-only.html

 

[Retired Fire]

Based on what I've read over the years here from various Colonial Era button experts, I think your brass solid-cast flatbutton with integrally-cast drilled shank is from the late-1600s into the early 1700s. By the mid-1700s, soldered wire loop shanks were becoming commonplace, as seen on "blowhole" buttons from that time period.

Also from wht I've seen posted here over the years, your cast-&-drilled 1-piece brass flatbutton is rare. There is some indication that type may be French-made, or Spanish-made. The fact that there were few French and Spanish colonists in America compared to the large number of British colonists may explain the rarity of your button. Seems like if it was British or American-made, we'd find a lot more of them than we do.

I forgot to mention, in researching your button I came across an old T-Net discussion of early-1700s "blowhole" buttons. A couple of drilled-shank brass solid-cast flatbuttons like yours show up among the various posters' photos of the blowhole buttons they've dug.
http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/my-best-finds/216095-blowhole-buttons-only.html

Whoa... That sounds even better. Thanks for the link and the insight. I am even more excited now if that is even possible. LOL

 

[coinman123]

Here is a somewhat reliable source for researching buttons. A lot of things look to be inaccurate on here though. This resource says they were used until the mid 19th century, though many other places say that they are late 1600's to around 1740/50. I think that TheCannonballGuy is probably going to be the best at identifying your button though!

http://www.daacs.org/wp-content/uploads/buttons.pdf

Added:
I have never found a single drilled shank button, out of the nearly 200 buttons I have found. Two blowhole buttons, but not one drilled shank button. I almost never even see them posted on here. Most of the areas I metal detect are from the 1730's-1800, so I would say that your button probably predates them. After looking at more information, and other people's post, I would guess that your button is probably within the date range TheCannonballGuy says. Awesome find!

 

[coinman123]

A website says, "Buttons can often be dated by type of manufacture. Early buttons produced between 1700 and 1760 were cast as one piece with the eye drilled out afterward. Later, the shank was added by attaching or soldering to the back of the button. This process altered over time and is traceable, allowing the button type to be dated. Because buttons are very often recovered archaeologically, this can assist in the dating of a site."

This sounds more accurate than the first resource I posted, though I am suprised that I wouldn't find these are any of the pre-1760 sites I go to. Like TheCannonballGuy said, they could be made by the french of spanish, while the English might have made blowhole buttons.

Here is another resource saying this date range. I think that this is a pretty accurate, useful, and easy to read guide, very good for quick reference after digging a button.

 

[Retired Fire]

Here is a somewhat reliable source for researching buttons. A lot of things look to be inaccurate on here though. This resource says they were used until the mid 19th century, though many other places say that they are late 1600's to around 1740/50. I think that TheCannonballGuy is probably going to be the best at identifying your button though!

http://www.daacs.org/wp-content/uploads/buttons.pdf

Added:
I have never found a single drilled shank button, out of the nearly 200 buttons I have found. Two blowhole buttons, but not one drilled shank button. I almost never even see them posted on here. Most of the areas I metal detect are from the 1730's-1800, so I would say that your button probably predates them. After looking at more information, and other people's post, I would guess that your button is probably within the date range TheCannonballGuy says. Awesome find!

Man this in conjunction with the cannonballguy's post has me convinced. Thanks so much. You said you have found over 200 buttons? Wow that's impressive. Something weird must be going on with me though. I have found maybe 10 buttons before. This drilled shank is actually the second I have found. However the first one I found was a surface find almost 20 years ago. I think I posted it once here looking for info. Here is a photo of it. It looks like the back of a button with the front missing. But not sure if a 2 piece was even made with a drilled shank.

 

[Underwonder]

Congratulations on a great button! I love finding buttons! Yours looks like a nice old recovery!

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Retired Fire, just in case you didn't notice... another "concave front" solid-cast brass drilled-shank button is in a photo in reply #19 at the link I posted previosuly:
http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/my-best-finds/216095-blowhole-buttons-only.html

The "concave front" shape and its steep-sloping sharp (not blunt or flat edged like a flatbutton) backside edge does suggest it was made to have some kind of separate front piece crimped over it.

 

[smokeythecat]

Charlotte was settled fairly early. And remember, people kept old and odd buttons back then. American manufacture was not up to snuff until the 19th century. What cannonballguy refers to as "blow hole" buttons are really awesome button types. Many were found in French and Indian war sites, I found some in Rev camps in NY and a few on the Brandywine Battlefield of 1777. I have seen a few coming out of Europe from Napoleonic sites. After my dad died, I got his box of old buttons. In it were some different styles and types from the 18th century. Talk about a shock. He died in 1997. I still have them. Family kept them and never tossed them.

 

[Retired Fire]

CannonBallGuy and Smokeythecat, Thanks for the additional info. I am super stoked to have found such old relics! I will be combing that area I found the flat one. Hopefully there will be more relics left there.

 

[rjs123]

I know this thread is a couple years old but I wanted to report that I found one of these yesterday at a house site that was active from about 1750 to the 1830s. It is very possible the site goes back to the 1720s. The owner of the house had a mill nearby that was operating in the 1720s so there could have been another house there before the 1750s house was built. Ive learned from Bill Dancy's book on Colonial Relics that these buttons were once 2 piece. They had a thinner piece attached to the front and almost always the front is gone.