Finally an old button!

[Old Dude]

Hi all. Got out today on 3 separate hunts. First was early this morning at a cornfield that gave me my one and only buffalo nickle. The ground was frozen hard for the first 2 inches here. I managed 3 modern bullets. I believe I remember the type being called a "wad cutter" on an earlier post. My second hunt was at a park built in the 1960's that gave me my one and only Merc. I found some clad and this neat bronze Pa National Guard key ring fob.

Last hunt of the day was in the cornfield in the video. This field gave me my very first musket ball but nothing else interesting until today. I posted the button on "What Is It" and The CannonBallGuy ID'ed it as an 1820's-1860's civilian used button bearing gold gilded grape leaves and cluster. It isn't the colonial button I have been looking for, but I am happy! It's my first old button.

 

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[vpnavy]

Great finds! Thanks for sharing...

 

[Msbeepbeep]

Nice finds! Great ring fob!
Those colonial buttons are still sleep'n too cold to wake up yet! You will find 'em I have no doubt!
You have to post your happy dance too! GL. HH!

 

[gman7665]

Congrats... Still searching for My first Mil. Button...

 

[Fletch88]

Nice finds Olddude! The fob is pristine!

 

[VOL1266-X]

Some good hunts OD!! Dman must have sent you one of his lucky green golf shirts-LOL. Like the fob and the button is a very nice find. WTG & HH, Q.

 

[Old Dude]

Congrats... Still searching for My first Mil. Button...

Unfortunately this one is not military, Gman. The CannonBallGuy says definitely civilian.

 

[Old Dude]

The CannonBallGuy has asked about a back mark, so I have been checking it again very carefully. Unfortunately I can not make any letters at all out on the back. It's in pretty bad shape. Yesterday while cleaning it with a toothpick, I did see something around the shank. I thought it must be impressions in what I thought was solder. Using a 30x loupe, I discovered this

Does this mean it is NOT as old as CBG thought, or is this thread from a later date? Maybe the button was used again by a frugal ancestor? No way this thread would remain intact from early to mid 1800's in a field that kills copper coins and turns lead that great white color over generations.....would it

 

[ModernMiner]

Well done OD. Thanks for the video. I agree with CBG. That's an old button for sure. I think it fell off Dman's lacy cravat on his way to shop for a new Colonial wig. Congrats on your first Buff and Merc too.
Keep those videos coming,
-DUHg-

 

[Old Dude]

MM, I hope you didn't think I had found the buff and Merc yesterday. I included those bits of info to reiterate the fact that we need to go back to sites that we have visited before. Your picture almost made me spit coffee! You would have owed me an Ipad, lol!

 

[WHADIFIND]

Ya know, I've found a few civil war buttons with thread attached. Maybe it gets cocooned and gets preserved in some cases?

 

[Old Dude]

Ya know, I've found a few civil war buttons with thread attached. Maybe it gets cocooned and gets preserved in some cases?

One of the mysteries that makes this hobby so interesting and fresh. I don't know about you, but in my weak little mind, I can imagine many scenarios with my finds. When I first realized it was thread, my immediate thought was that it must be some synthetic material which made me think it was a bit more modern button. Then I remembered my thrifty grandmother having a mason jar full of buttons she would clip off worn out clothing destined for the rag bin. I think my favorite find just changed again, lol. Thanks for everyone's thoughts and GL to us all.

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Old Dude wrote:
> Does this mean it is NOT as old as CBG thought, or is this thread from a later date?

No, and no. You tell part of the reason yourself, in the final sentence quoted below.

> Maybe the button was used again by a frugal ancestor?

That is possible. As I indicated in my previous reply, these sturdy metal buttons tended to last a long time, and get re-used when the clothing wore out. However, the thin goldplating on them tends to wear off because a button gets shoved through the buttonhole every time the clothing is used. Your button still has a LOT of its goldplating, which indicates it was lost just a few years after it was manufactured.

> No way this thread would remain intact from early to mid 1800's in a field that kills copper coins
>and turns lead that great white color over generations.....would it?

Actually, yes. The acidity of the soil in that field dissolves copper from the brazing (or lead from the solder)which attached the loop onto the button's back, saturating the cotton thread. The dissolved metal is toxic to bacteria and other micro-organism's which normally would have eaten the organic matter. That toxicity is why we civil war relic diggers occasionally find buttons with original thread preserved in/around the loop, and "lead-filled" buckles/boxplates/breastplates with a large piece of leather still on its back. In certain extreme soil-chemistry conditions, we've even dug up buttons with a small circle of original civil war uniform-cloth preserved on the button's back. The cotton thread or cloth or leather got saturated with dissolved "toxic heavy metal salts" from being in direct contact with copper or lead in a highly acid soil environment. Any bacteria that tries to eat the extremely toxic material dies, fast.

I should mention, that is why we also occasionally dig civil war lead bullets with some of the original paper cartridge preserved on the lead bullet's body.

 

[CoilyGirl]

That button has a really pretty patina Old Dude!

 

[Steve in PA]

That is an nice button, and I suspect the back mark is Benedict & Burnham like these that I found. If so, that would date it 1834 to 1843 I believe. Don't have my back mark book in front of me.

 

[Old Dude]

Thanks, Steve! That is definitely the same button front. I guess some extra tooth picking is in order for the back to try and get more detail. That's one great thing about this site. It seems someone eventually wanders across your find that has made one like it themselves. Now if only a textiles expert would validate the thread, lol!