Odd Domed 2-piece TIN buttons from the Virginia trenches . . . Help?

[parsonwalker]

Back in the same trench where the Maryland Cross and the bullet w/full powder bag came from. Found a gun screw and a bullet (barely) in wood. But these two odd tin buttons were in the same hole on TOP of the trench. They were just round blobs of rust, but I decided to keep them and find out what was inside. Imagine my surprise! Tin . . . but TWO piece, and domed. The four indentations appeared at first to be holes for thread. But they don't go all the way through, and they obviously had shanks. I'm think some kind of flower-button-type design?

Anybody seen similar two-piece, domed TIN buttons?

 

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[DCMatt]

Are the backs rusted away? Hard to tell from the pics.

 

[parsonwalker]

Are the backs rusted away? Hard to tell from the pics.

It IS hard to tell. The backs are THERE (2nd pic) but obviously VERY rough. Stem of one shank is there, the other has a hole where the shank was. They are not deformed at all, just disintegrating. Still domed, hollow, and backs intact.

 

[duggap]

They kind of look like buttons that come off the front of a pair of pants.