✅ SOLVED NO CLUE...DO YOU?

[BigWaveDave]

I found this in my yard and I don't know what it is... appears to be hollow, copper and dented on one side

 

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[TheCannonballGuy]

It is what is called a "ball button." It is made of two pieces of thin "domed" sheetbrass crimped together to form a front and a back. That basic type of ball-button has been manufactured since the early-1800s, and is still being made and sold today. Ball-buttons are extremely difficult to accurately time-date unless there is a manufacturer/dealer's name marked on the back. However, your unmarked ball-button has a strictly 20th Century form of back, made so that a simple hole pierced through the domed thin sheetmetal back forms the "loop" for sewing the button onto clothing. That is called a "self-shank" back. See the photo below.

 

[BigWaveDave]

Very very exciting...never heard of a ball button, but it makes sense. Your knowledge is appreciated...How do you get the "solved" icon in front of my thread? Thank you very muck...BWD

 

[NVNutcase]

At the top of the page, there is a Sticky that shows you how to mark Solved

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

BigWaveDave wrote:
> Very very exciting...never heard of a ball button, but it makes sense.

Dave, here is a photo for you, made in 1910, which shows an early 20th-Century military school cadet's uniform with ball-buttons.

But remember, most ball-buttons were used on civilian clothing... particularly, women's clothing, although some men's "fancy" vests and coats also had ball-buttons. They are still being made and sold today. For example, the last time I checked the Waterbury Button Company (waterburybutton.com) website, newly-manufactured ball-buttons are for sale there. That company is the oldest American button-maker still in the business of button production. It has been manufacturing ball-buttons (and many other types) since 1849.