✅ SOLVED Need a little help dating a button....

[TNGUNS]

Have found lots of flat buttons at this and a few surrounding sites. Most of them are plain flat buttons and some have beveled edges or rope borders, but this one is a bit different. The site is a ghost town in Tennessee that was started in 1812 but had a small earlier settlement there. The town itself was pretty much dead by 1870. This button is domed and is a bit more ornate. It has a definite seam showing on the back that I assume is from it's casting. Sorry no accurate measurements. Caliper needs batteries but put a penny as reference.

Any help on dating this one would be appreciated. HH

 

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[gman17]

Cool button bud, with all the flat buttons I've dug I've never seen anything like it. I wonder if it's French or Spanish .

 

[TNGUNS]

Cool button bud, with all the flat buttons I've dug I've never seen anything like it. I wonder if it's French or Spanish .

Wish I knew. Hard to believe how many flat buttons I have found in this little town. Most are British but did find two "JACKSON VICTORY" buttons from Andrew Jackson's 1829 presidential campaign in it about this time last year. Of coarse American. Lot's of scattered CW relics as well. The button is domed and slightly thicker in the middle and thinner at the edges. Again, it is noticeably different than most I have found. HH

 

[HutSiteDigger]

TN - I'd say the button is 1820s-1830s right along the lines of Andrew Jackson period - has you prolly know the Jackson period had lot of kewl unusual artifacts with awesome designs, one of my fav time periods.

 

[BuckleBoy]

Late 1700s early 1800s. Certainly pre-1812 IMO due to the thin construction and lack of either a maker's mark or a quality mark.

 

[roaddust66]

very very cool !

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

The key to time-dating your BRASS 1-piece flatbutton is its back having a "split anvil line" -- which looks like a moldseam, but isn't. It is the result of an American button-dealer using a two-piece ("split") die to put his own marking onto the back of an imported British-made brass 1-piece flatbutton. That info is from pages V and VI in the Introduction section of the book "American Military Button Makers And Dealers; Their Backmarks & Dates" (by William F. McGuinn and Bruce S. Bazelon).

In particular, during the War Of 1812 (US versus Britain) and for at least a decade afterward, American button-dealers wanted to conceal the origin of the British-made buttons they were selling. So, they would use a split-anvil die to obliterate the button's original British backmark. In my opinion, your BRASS 1-piece button showing the split-anvil die's line across its back most likely dates from 1812-to-late-1820s.

 

[TNGUNS]

The key to time-dating your BRASS 1-piece flatbutton is its back having a "split anvil line" -- which looks like a moldseam, but isn't. It is the result of an American button-dealer using a two-piece ("split") die to put his own marking onto the back of an imported British-made brass 1-piece flatbutton. That info is from pages V and VI in the Introduction section of the book "American Military Button Makers And Dealers; Their Backmarks & Dates" (by William F. McGuinn and Bruce S. Bazelon).

In particular, during the War Of 1812 (US versus Britain) and for at least a decade afterward, American button-dealers wanted to conceal the origin of the British-made buttons they were selling. So, they would use a split-anvil die to obliterate the button's original British backmark. In my opinion, your BRASS 1-piece button showing the split-anvil die's line across its back most likely dates from 1812-to-late-1820s.

Your help is much appreciated. Actually adds a bit of "cool factor" to a fairly common find. Thanks for all you do for us my friend.