✅ SOLVED Need some input from the button guys

[TrpnBils]

I had put this in the Today's Finds forum but with almost 100 views, 1 reply, and nothing closer to an answer I thought I might try over here. I dug this button at a site last night where I've previously pulled about 50 or so flat buttons with a friend of mine, coins ranging from 1798 to 1864, and a bayonet. It was part of a large encampment during the Civil War, but I believe the house that was on the site dates back to at least 1800 based on the other stuff I've found there.

I'm looking for an approximate age or origin, and I'm not very well versed in buttons. I'm wondering if the British spelling of "colour" is telling of anything age-wise and what the numbers mean because I've never seen numbers on a back mark before. Any thoughts?

The mark says "Fine Gilt Colour 0473"

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

Upgraded Night Vision Monocular Digital Infrared Monocular Telescope for 100% Darkness with 8X Zoom - Grab it through Amazon!

[TheCannonballGuy]

Your guess is correct... the British spelling (of the word color as colour) in your button's backmark means it was made in Great Britain. Note that its backmark is written in indented (not raised) lettering. On a brass 1-piece flatbutton, it means the button dates from about 1810 into the mid-1800s. However, because you dug it in the United States, your brass "1-piece" flatbutton dates from approximately 1810 to the early-1830s. After that time, the young US button-making industry had finally become capable of mass-producing brass flatbuttons... which meant there was no longer a need to pay the expense of importing them across the Atlantic Ocean from British manufacturers.

 

[TrpnBils]

Thanks! I knew somebody here would be able to give me some good background info!