Pewter Buttons

[BuckleBoy]

Does anyone know the approximate date pewter buttons fell out of fashion and production here in the U.S.? I'm sure that some buttons were reused on different garments until their shanks broke and they were useless...but I found a site where I recovered as many pewter flat buttons as non-pewter ones. Just trying to date the site. The soil here is not kind to pewter. I got to the buttons with an old toothbrush, and the pewter ones still looked like they were made of iron. Only after running my fingernail over one of them on the back did I see that tell-tale gun-metal coloration underneath.

Regards,

Buckleboy

 

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[BuckleBoy]

Anyone have any ideas about this?

 

[Gypsy Heart]

The Pewter Guilds of Medieval Europe banned the use of lead as early as the late 1400's. When produced by legitimate tradesmen, Pewter did not contain lead until the Colonial period of the United States of America. It was then that lead was added to stretch the volume of raw materials, since "Mother England" would not allow the "Colonies" to import raw pewter supplies. When we had won our independence from England and were able to import raw pewter, the use of lead in American Pewter gradually diminished to nearly none.


I read an article once that stated the use of pewter buttons had disappeared by1850