✅ SOLVED Pewter or tombac flat button with spirograph design?

[bobclouser]

Hi everyone,
I found this button at a house built in 1820 in Lunenburg, MA. Pictures show the front and back. I think the shank is iron, it's slightly magnetic. It's a silvery color, and has concentric rings on the backside, as though it was spun when made. I'm wondering if this is tombac button or pewter button. It's not flat, but slightly concave. Note the cool spirograph-like design pattern on the front.




Any ideas? Thanks in advance!

Bob

 

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[TheCannonballGuy]

It is what is correctly called a spun-back "White Tombac" button. Regular Tombac is a golden-colored alloy of 85% copper with 15% zinc. Canada made Tombac 5-cent coins during World War 2. You can see the golden color in the photo below. White Tombac is the same alloy except it includes 1% Arsenic, which turns the alloy to a silvery color. White Tombac is extremely resistant to corrosion... sometimes buttons made of it come out of the ground with no oxidation, still looking a dull grey silver color.

According to what I believe are the most accurate sources of button-dating information, these spun-back White Tombac buttons were made during the second half of the 1700s and barely into the very-early 1800s. Bob, maybe somebody lost it while building that house in 1820.

For anybody here who doesn't already know:
Bobclouser's button was made by casting a disc of white tombac with an imbedded copper/brass wire loop. The button was then placed in a lathe and spun, where its body (except for the shank's mound), was trimmed smooth by the lathing-tool... hence the term "spun back button."

The great majority are plain-front. Only a comparative few had the beautiful by-hand engraving we see on Bobclouser's button.

 

[bobclouser]

CannonballGuy -- wow, you nailed it! I am really grateful. Button ID is not easy. You are an expert!! This might be one of my oldest finds yet. That makes this extra special. I do like to imagine who might have worn it back in the early 1800's.

 

[smokeythecat]

That is a pretty one. Cannonballguy is correct, these are 18th century buttons. And a beauty.