Went out today with my F-75SE detector and found a Phoenix Button No.14 from the Haitian and French war around 1801 Don Tyler Merrimack,NH
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Phoenix Button
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surf
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Howdy Don,
Have mercy on us ole sight challenged types, will'ya. Go all Macro on that, please, and show us the flip side, too.
So was this a French button? Are you typing in Port-au-Prince?
Have mercy on us ole sight challenged types, will'ya. Go all Macro on that, please, and show us the flip side, too.
So was this a French button? Are you typing in Port-au-Prince?
kuger
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Contact Tom-in-Ca ,on here,he is very knowledgeable about them.They are rare outside of the the, "West Coast"especially....also they actually never made it to any combat....very interesting story behind them:
Henry Christophe became the king of Haiti in 1807. For 12 years prior to this Haitian slaves revolted against their European masters and in this timeframe defeated the English, Spanish and French. In 1802 the French anchored 225 ships in the harbor with 60,000 troops to put down the revolt. The Haitians were greatly outmanned and outgunned, but somehow managed to defeat the French, and by 1803 the French army was spent. Thomas Jefferson quickly took advantage of Napoleon and a French army in desperate need of cash, and convinced him to sell the Louisiana territory for 15 million dollars. Known as the Louisiana Purchase, this was probably the greatest land bargain in history.
Christophe reigned as king until 1820 when he became ill, and was too weak to put down a coup. He committed suicide that same year. The phoenix was Christophe's coat of arms. All of his troops were outfitted with uniform buttons and buckles with this phoenix design. The numbers at the bottom of the buttons denoted the regiment number. The buttons are numbered 1-30 with 11-13, 15-19 and 21-24 being skipped. There is no concrete evidence of why these numbers were skipped. One theory is they were skipped intentionally to fool enemies into believing the army was larger than it really was.
At this point thehistory of the Phoenix Button becomes somewhat cloudy. After Christophe's death the button maker or makers apparentlysold the undelivered buttons to a trading company bound for the West Coast ofthe United States. Very little information is available about the manufacturerof these buttons. The only buttons with backmarks are the ball variety, and allare backmarked "BUSHBY LONDON." No records have been found on thisEnglish company, so whether they were the only maker is unclear.
Nathaniel Wyeth a traderof the time was in the process of setting up a trading post on Sauvies Islandnear present day Portland, Oregon. It is generally accepted that he was the onethat the buttons were sold to in England. One of the ships believed to be carryingthe buttons made a stop in Hawaii, and one of the buttons was found in Hawaiiseveral years ago. The mysterious thing is, the regimental number on the buttonhas never been found anywhere else.
Almost all of thebuttons made their way to Wyeth's trading post. Here they were believed to betraded to the Indians for furs and salmon. The Indians in turn traded withother tribes, and eventually the buttons made their way up and down the WestCoast. The buttons have been found at period sites from Alaska to SouthernCalifornia. Of the 10 or so buttons that have been reported east of the RockyMountains, 3 have come from Virginia. Why this is, is anyone's guess. Theremaining buttons have been single finds in various states. These single lossescould easily be explained as being lost by people making their way back fromthe West Coast. However, the 3 in Virginia would suggest some kind of linkbetween the original source and Virginia.
Much of the acceptedtheory on the Phoenix Buttons can be accredited to Emory Strong, who was abutton collector and amateur archaeologist from the Portland Oregon area. Hepassed away several years ago, and not much research has been done since. Hedevised a system to describe the buttons based on the different types. The discstyle buttons came in 3 sizes: 17, 25 and 26mm, and were made of polishedbrass. They were 1 piece die stamped brass buttons with a soldered backloop. The ball variety came in two sizes; 13 and 17mm and were made of copperwith a silver gilting. Strong's system puts the buttons into 3 types, with typeI and II having 3 styles. Type I is the button found most, and all of thephotos in this article are type I except the ball variety. Type 2 is similar totype I except between the bird and regiment number am a crossed cannon andmortar. Type III is the ball variety of button. The system was designed todescribe a button with out having to write all of the details out. Example:II3s2 would be a type II, style 3 small, regiment number 2.
Henry Christophe became the king of Haiti in 1807. For 12 years prior to this Haitian slaves revolted against their European masters and in this timeframe defeated the English, Spanish and French. In 1802 the French anchored 225 ships in the harbor with 60,000 troops to put down the revolt. The Haitians were greatly outmanned and outgunned, but somehow managed to defeat the French, and by 1803 the French army was spent. Thomas Jefferson quickly took advantage of Napoleon and a French army in desperate need of cash, and convinced him to sell the Louisiana territory for 15 million dollars. Known as the Louisiana Purchase, this was probably the greatest land bargain in history.
Christophe reigned as king until 1820 when he became ill, and was too weak to put down a coup. He committed suicide that same year. The phoenix was Christophe's coat of arms. All of his troops were outfitted with uniform buttons and buckles with this phoenix design. The numbers at the bottom of the buttons denoted the regiment number. The buttons are numbered 1-30 with 11-13, 15-19 and 21-24 being skipped. There is no concrete evidence of why these numbers were skipped. One theory is they were skipped intentionally to fool enemies into believing the army was larger than it really was.
At this point thehistory of the Phoenix Button becomes somewhat cloudy. After Christophe's death the button maker or makers apparentlysold the undelivered buttons to a trading company bound for the West Coast ofthe United States. Very little information is available about the manufacturerof these buttons. The only buttons with backmarks are the ball variety, and allare backmarked "BUSHBY LONDON." No records have been found on thisEnglish company, so whether they were the only maker is unclear.
Nathaniel Wyeth a traderof the time was in the process of setting up a trading post on Sauvies Islandnear present day Portland, Oregon. It is generally accepted that he was the onethat the buttons were sold to in England. One of the ships believed to be carryingthe buttons made a stop in Hawaii, and one of the buttons was found in Hawaiiseveral years ago. The mysterious thing is, the regimental number on the buttonhas never been found anywhere else.
Almost all of thebuttons made their way to Wyeth's trading post. Here they were believed to betraded to the Indians for furs and salmon. The Indians in turn traded withother tribes, and eventually the buttons made their way up and down the WestCoast. The buttons have been found at period sites from Alaska to SouthernCalifornia. Of the 10 or so buttons that have been reported east of the RockyMountains, 3 have come from Virginia. Why this is, is anyone's guess. Theremaining buttons have been single finds in various states. These single lossescould easily be explained as being lost by people making their way back fromthe West Coast. However, the 3 in Virginia would suggest some kind of linkbetween the original source and Virginia.
Much of the acceptedtheory on the Phoenix Buttons can be accredited to Emory Strong, who was abutton collector and amateur archaeologist from the Portland Oregon area. Hepassed away several years ago, and not much research has been done since. Hedevised a system to describe the buttons based on the different types. The discstyle buttons came in 3 sizes: 17, 25 and 26mm, and were made of polishedbrass. They were 1 piece die stamped brass buttons with a soldered backloop. The ball variety came in two sizes; 13 and 17mm and were made of copperwith a silver gilting. Strong's system puts the buttons into 3 types, with typeI and II having 3 styles. Type I is the button found most, and all of thephotos in this article are type I except the ball variety. Type 2 is similar totype I except between the bird and regiment number am a crossed cannon andmortar. Type III is the ball variety of button. The system was designed todescribe a button with out having to write all of the details out. Example:II3s2 would be a type II, style 3 small, regiment number 2.
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detroitdigger
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That is a great find, congrats! A friend of mine found one in Arizona a few years back. Congrats again.
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