Looking for info on my button find

[Older The Better]

I went back to the spot I found what I think is trade silver, I found this button I suspect it’s modern but worth an ask because the area produces trade era items




It rang up in the 40’s on my Garrett, it’s not light enough to be aluminum. Came out of the ground clean like that

I found it near some copper scraps that I find with trade goods, and a fired round ball so I have to wonder if just maybe it’s old.




On the flip side I found a few other more modern things... I think

An iron ring that could be from any time

A strange washer looking thing that has silver color but rang up a solid 75 just like it was a penny

And an aluminum can

... that’s all that came up today with 0 discrimination so there is very little in the area trash or non.

So is my button modern or old?

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

Diving for Pleasure and Treasure - Grab it through Amazon!

[Older The Better]

Update it’s looking awfully similar to 1800’s pewter 4 hole buttons

 

[ANTIQUARIAN]

Yup, 'inside pants' pewter button from the mid-1800s.
The rather crude casting and slightly off center holes are a dead giveaway.

Dave

 

[Older The Better]

Thanks, I found similar examples in my book. I’m trying to find the edges of this area where I find trade goods, this extends my search area to the west by quite a bit.
Any other info on mid 1800’s pewter would be appreciated

 

[ANTIQUARIAN]

Thanks, I found similar examples in my book. I’m trying to find the edges of this area where I find trade goods, this extends my search area to the west by quite a bit.
Any other info on mid 1800’s pewter would be appreciated

"George Washington’s 1789 inauguration gave the world its first political button. Made of copper, brass or Sheffield plate, these buttons could close a pair of breeches or a jacket while simultaneously announcing the wearer’s politics. Political buttons took on a more recognizably modern (and less functional) shape during Lincoln’s 1864 re-election campaign. Poorer folks wore buttons, too, but they had to craft them laboriously by hand. In Colonial America until the early 20th century, working-class families counted themselves lucky if they owned a hand-held button-mold. You heated up the mold in a bed of hot coals, then filled it with molten lead or pewter, which set into a button shape. The sturdy metal buttons could then be covered with fabric or other embellishments. Extra buttons made at home could also be sold, which meant button-making could be hellish piecework."

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

In addition to (of course) gold and silver, I know of 3 other metals which can come out of centuries-long burial with very little to no "patina layer" on them at all. They are pewter, white-tombac, and Brittania-metal. The reason I'm mentioning that is, in the photos Older The Better's 4-hole button doesn't have the "look" of dug pewter to my eyes. This button's color being different from typical dug pewter in the photos could be due simply to the digital camera's settings, and/or the lighting. It's the button's "surface texture" that seems different from dug pewter. Also, the button is reported to have been dug in Kansas... and the first Caucasian settlement of that state started in the second quarter of the 1800s, which is pretty much after the age of pewter buttons had passed.

Notice the bubble-craters or perhaps drill-chipping in the metal next to some of the thread-holes on the button's back. Also, there seem to be lathing spin marks encircling the back... which we very often see on White-Tombac buttons -- but not on pewter buttons. So, I'm leaning toward it being either White-Tombac... or Britannia-metal, which was often spun rather than simply cast. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Britannia-metal, it is a variety of pewter, typically containing 92% tin, 6% antimony, and 2% copper. Its color is very close to polished pewter but often has a slightly yellowish look. Scroll down through the photos here:​

https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=%22britannia+metal%22&qpvt=%22britannia+metal%22&FORM=IGRE​

and the Wikipedia entry for Britannia metal and its history:​

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Britannia_metal​

Older The Better, identifying your button's metal may not be important enough to you to cause you to test it by making a tiny "scrape" on it with a knife's edge. (A scrape is wider than a scratch.) Even a tiny fresh scrape will reveal both the metal's true color and its hardness.

Pewter is dull-silvery, and is the softest of the three metals I've mentioned.
White-tombac is very silvery when scraped, and it is the hardest of the three metals I've mentioned.
Britannia-metal is also silvery but is harder than pewter made in the 1700s/1800s because it contains no lead at all.

To save y'all from having to scroll up to Older The Better's photos to see the button back's apparent lathing spin marks and bubble-craters (or chipping) around the drilled holes, here's a copy of his photo of the back.
​

 

[Older The Better]

Thank you for the response, I had thought tombac because of what looked like spin marks. but from the little I read it had a yellow tint to it. Add to the fact that to my understanding tombac is rare, I thought odds were better it was pewter. I hadn’t heard of white-tombac before. That’s why I was asking for more info and glad to have your expertise.

As for the area, the nearest town was founded in 1863. There were a few earlier towns and a pair of missions in the area. The site I detect is close to a bluff top where I have good date of 1830’s. So I’m thinking trade goods more than likely. If this new area is an extension of that site then I suspect the button is from the same time.

Again thanks for the info, it’s very valuable in my understanding of this site. I have found iron and guilt buttons but nothing like this metal yet.

I’ll try to take ones in natural light when I get the chance.

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Older The Better wrote:
> I had thought tombac because of what looked like spin marks. but from the little I read it had a yellow tint to it.

"Standard" tombac is a version of brass alloy which contains about 10% more copper than yellow-brass does. The higher copper content causes the alloy to have a "golden" color. During World War 2, Canada used tombac for its 5-cent coins. See the photo below. The other photo shows a modern-era (1998) Romanian coin made of White-Tombac.

> Add to the fact that to my understanding tombac is rare, I thought odds were better it was pewter.

Actually, tombac is not a rare metal at all (otherwise it wouldn't have been used for a 5-cent coin)... but it was rarely used for buttons AFTER the era of 1-piece cast buttons ended. White-Tombac buttons (usually with lathing-spin marks) from the latter-1700s/early-1800s are fairly common in Britain and areas of the US which were states at that time.

> I hadn’t heard of white-tombac before.​

Very unfortunately, many archeological-artifact books, papers, and archeologists simply say Tombac even when the metal is actually White-Tombac. See the misleading "button-dating" chart below, from an Official Historical Archeology website, and read the text description of the 3rd button. It says "Tombac or copper alloy"... and then says "the cone shank is cast and often lathe-finished." Obviously, it's talking about the "spun-back" White-Tombac buttons we dig, but only says tombac.

 

[CRUSADER]

Its made of Tombac.

 

[Older The Better]

Tombac it is. If I could find a way to mark solved from the app I would, thanks for the info