Yet Another Cool Old Gilted Button From my "Colonial" Site......

[Garrett424]

So I went back to my early post Colonial site. I had very little time 'cause the rain was 'a coming.

Early into the hunt I got a solid 66 and dug another old gilted button; my third from this spot in 5 days and not far from where I found the first. Looks like another wave goin' on:



This one is really cool because the gilt is inlaid in the design itself as well as the type. It's just a shame it's bent so badly.
If anyone can tell me anything about it I would really appreciate it. These buttons are a new thing for me but I'm trying to learn.

It started to rain and in the few minutes I had left I got a nice high hit; about an 82-84 and dug up this roundish piece of mystery metal:



When I first saw it in the hole I thought I had found old Spanish silver or something really cool. My heart began to POUND for a few brief moments. I picked it up and it was pretty heavy. Then I turned it over and saw this:



What a letdown.

It feels heavy like lead but rings up really high. I'm gonna' assume it's just more trash unless by some miracle I'm told otherwise. It may be a hunk of melted aluminum. I've run across that a few times in the past but it's not heavy, so who knows?? It's also usually not rough on one side. It's just strange how circular this thing is from the front.

So anyway, the rain came and it poured so I packed it up and headed home.
So, that's pretty much it for my short hunt. I definitely have to get back there. My gut tells me there's more treasure to be had.

Thanks for looking & HH

 

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[hbeaton]

Got you covered on the button. It's very cool by the way. Age on this button is between 1834-1849. The name is hard to read but the outer rim reads Benedict & (Coe or Burnham) Waterbury while the inner rim reads Extra Super Fine most likely.

In 1812 with the outbreak of war, Aaron Benedict helped make buttons for US soldiers who quickly needed them as we did not have England to supply them, obviously. At this time he was not stamping his name or Waterbury on those buttons. However, in 1823 Aaron Benedict, along with several partners, founded the Waterbury, CT firm which operated under the name "A. Benedict" until 1829, when it became Benedict & Coe; 1834-43, Benedict & Burnham; 1843-49, Benedict & Burnham Mfgr. Co. Finally, in 1849 the button production division spun off to become its own entity, thus Waterbury Button Company.

The button has a nice oak leaf on the front I think and the Extra Super Fine was to indicate the quality level of gilt finish on it. Gilt is a gold colored plating used to make otherwise dull button surface look shiny. This button was made for civilian usage for the coat or vest or cuff. Other gilt quality level marks used in conjunction with the A. Benedict name include "Treble Gilt," "Warranted," and "Warranted First Quality".

Hope this helps!

-H

 

[Garrett424]

Got you covered on the button. It's very cool by the way. Age on this button is between 1834-1849. The name is hard to read but the outer rim reads Benedict & (Coe or Burnham) Waterbury while the inner rim reads Extra Super Fine most likely.

In 1812 with the outbreak of war, Aaron Benedict helped make buttons for US soldiers who quickly needed them as we did not have England to supply them, obviously. At this time he was not stamping his name or Waterbury on those buttons. However, in 1823 Aaron Benedict, along with several partners, founded the Waterbury, CT firm which operated under the name "A. Benedict" until 1829, when it became Benedict & Coe; 1834-43, Benedict & Burnham; 1843-49, Benedict & Burnham Mfgr. Co. Finally, in 1849 the button production division spun off to become its own entity, thus Waterbury Button Company.

The button has a nice oak leaf on the front I think and the Extra Super Fine was to indicate the quality level of gilt finish on it. Gilt is a gold colored plating used to make otherwise dull button surface look shiny. This button was made for civilian usage for the coat or vest or cuff. Other gilt quality level marks used in conjunction with the A. Benedict name include "Treble Gilt," "Warranted," and "Warranted First Quality".

Hope this helps!

-H

Well I have to say it most definitely helps.


Dang dude, you just told me everything I will ever need to know about this button and I greatly appreciate it. You seem to be a real authority on these old buttons. I'm impressed.

I just began finding these recently and it's nice to learn so much about them.
Thanks again.

 

[hbeaton]

Well dude I appreciate the compliment. Many times if one button has been found with some age to it, there are others. Such is the case with this one. While I did not find another one specifically with the oak leaf, I'm fairly confident more were made during that time (in fact Waterbury still makes similar patterns to this day for plants and other floral patterns). Most of the research on this one was already done for me, I could easily make out Waterbury and the word Extra in the middle, after that the field of time it could have been made was already narrowed greatly, from there being able to decipher the Benedict name gave us our date range.

A similar backmarked button was actually listed on TNET almost 10 years ago (plain front on that one) and the guy who answered most of the same questions I answered here was PBK. Now that dude was impressive. Wealth of knowledge that a young whipper snapper like me was able to glean from on this find in particular.

All about knowing how to research, that's my bag.

 

[against the wind]

Dang Dudes, dat der is a lot of info

 

[Garrett424]

Well dude I appreciate the compliment. Many times if one button has been found with some age to it, there are others. Such is the case with this one. While I did not find another one specifically with the oak leaf, I'm fairly confident more were made during that time (in fact Waterbury still makes similar patterns to this day for plants and other floral patterns). Most of the research on this one was already done for me, I could easily make out Waterbury and the word Extra in the middle, after that the field of time it could have been made was already narrowed greatly, from there being able to decipher the Benedict name gave us our date range.

A similar backmarked button was actually listed on TNET almost 10 years ago (plain front on that one) and the guy who answered most of the same questions I answered here was PBK. Now that dude was impressive. Wealth of knowledge that a young whipper snapper like me was able to glean from on this find in particular.

All about knowing how to research, that's my bag.

After your info I was able to find what looks to be my button or one really close by the same manufacturer; in excellent shape of course. Here's a side by side:



I gotta' say; mine doesn't look so good next to the good one.

Bit it looks pretty close to me. You can really tell how much of mine is gone.

 

[hbeaton]

Yep I'd say that was pretty damn close.

Ya know, with the "dude" references. I had to fire up The Big Lebowski...man. It uh, really tied the room together.

And on the off chance you don't know what I'm talking about, Bob, it's a cult classic movie.

 

[OBN]

That's A old one!! VN!

 

[Garrett424]

That's A old one!! VN!

VN??

******EDIT****

Okay. I figured it out.
Only took about a 1/2 hour.