✅ SOLVED 18th C Admiral Button?

CRUSADER · Mar 16, 2020

Hi,

Got this today, but don't have the right books to look it up. I think its a very rare Admiral's Button?
1 piece, copper & silver plated, 24mm.

ironhorse · Mar 16, 2020

Is there any signs of a backmark?

Kray Gelder · Mar 16, 2020

I did some looking, and I'm agreeing with the late 18th century. I couldn't find the exact match, but the wreath and anchor without the crown added above the anchor was worn by Royal Flag rank. The crown was added soon after 1800, I believe. Super find! There just weren't that many Admirals walking around back then.

G.A.P.metal · Mar 16, 2020

It`s not pictured in Tice`s book... "Uniform Buttons of the United States 1776-1865"
Gary

CRUSADER · Mar 16, 2020

ironhorse said:
Is there any signs of a backmark?

Nope. Just the usual 18th C loop/shank.

CRUSADER · Mar 16, 2020

G.A.P.metal said:
It`s not pictured in Tice`s book... "Uniform Buttons of the United States 1776-1865"
Gary

Thanks for looking. I think its a RARE one!

CRUSADER · Mar 16, 2020

Kray Gelder said:
I did some looking, and I'm agreeing with the late 18th century. I couldn't find the exact match, but the wreath and anchor without the crown added above the anchor was worn by Royal Flag rank. The crown was added soon after 1800, I believe. Super find! There just weren't that many Admirals walking around back then.

The Crown was added in 1812 I believe, so the date range should be 1787-1812.

DCMatt · Mar 16, 2020

I can't find any pics but found this comment on the Colchester Treasure Hunting page:

In 1774 a fouled anchor, plain edge or surrounded by rope edging, took the place of the Rose and in 1787, the same design, with the addition of a wreath of laurel leaves, was adopted for the Admirals.

CRUSADER · Mar 16, 2020

DCMatt said:
I can't find any pics but found this comment on the Colchester Treasure Hunting page:

Yeap, thats all I found, but I emailed the contact on that page, so fingers crossed Tim replies.

Red-Coat · Mar 16, 2020

Fantastic button, Crusader.

Surprisingly (to me at least) there were 14 people who attained the rank of Admiral before 1787 and were still alive in 1787, plus another 130 who attained that rank between the years 1787 and 1812. Those numbers exclude the ranks of Rear Admiral, Vice Admiral and Admiral of the Fleet unless the officer concerned also gained the rank of full Admiral.

cmthunder · Mar 16, 2020

Sweet button Crusader. Admiral button is fantastic.

MCollett · Mar 16, 2020

Beautiful button. And being so few Admirals in that time period, you may be able to narrow down who would have worn it and lived in or around that area. Pretty frickin cool!

CRUSADER · Mar 17, 2020

MCollett said:
Beautiful button. And being so few Admirals in that time period, you may be able to narrow down who would have worn it and lived in or around that area. Pretty frickin cool!

Hopefully, 'if' I get a narrower date, I will start that process.

JamieD · Mar 17, 2020

I’m really not a button expert at all but these fit the description of the fouled anchor with rope edge and wreath and without crown and they definitely belonged to an admiral in the right time period!

https://www.rmg.co.uk/discover/explore/admiral-lord-nelson (Scroll down for picture of the coat Nelson wore at Trafalgar)

And here are some restamps from historic dies

https://www.ecsnaith.com/special-edition-lord-admiral-nelson-buttons.html

They have a similar, not identical, design to yours but very different construction. However I’m not familiar enough with buttons to know if there would be multiple sets with different styles for different occasions...