Brass Buttons Military/Civilian?

[paleomaxx]

Earlier this week I was sweeping for nails in one of the horse paddocks and started turning up all sorts of buttons. Originally I thought they were off contemporary horse tack, but I found two large cents, one 1817 and one 1844. The buttons seem to be from around the same time, but I was wondering if people had any thoughts. Especially on the second checkered pattern button.



The first button is brass with the gilt mostly intact. There are some words on the back, but I couldn't make them out. It seems to be the three-piece brass type with the front and back held together with a strip around the middle.

The second is also brass, but a flat single piece and no writing on the back. There's no loop on the back either, but a spot where one might have been.

The third is brass with "Artillery" on the front top and "Reg" on the front bottom. The back has "Imperial Stand" and a wreath with an eagle on top.

There was also this more unusual piece that looks to be stamped copper, silver plated on the front. No writing anywhere.



Any help is greatly appreciated and I'm sure there's more there so hopefully I'll have more mysteries to post!

 

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[paleomaxx]

I did some hunting around online since posting and the last piece may be an 1820's US army cap plate. That's just a theory though and I couldn't find a complete timeline of cap plates so I'm definitely open to competing ideas.

 

[nhbenz]

Nice finds! And welcome to Treasurenet!
The first one is civilian, from the "golden age" of gilt buttons (1830's-40's). Here is an example with the same design which can be dated a bit more specifically due to the backmark: 1835 1837 2 PC Golden Age Fancy Gilt Button by Wadhams COE Co | eBay

 

[nhbenz]

Your artillery regiment button dates, I believe, from 1814-1822.

 

[paleomaxx]

Thank you so much! That first button was driving me crazy on google image search; the thistle motif was all I had to go on and there's way too much of that out there. The artillery button date range is interesting because the other military button I found was a much more recognizable Federal Artillery 1808-1821.

Right now we're talking with the local historical society to figure out what was originally there. All of the finds have been interspersed with brick fragments and oddly enough tremendous quantities of quahog shells. Also a few clay pipe stems turned up while I was digging for the metal pieces. Makes me think tavern, but no one remembers anything about a tavern ever being there and we're at least a mile from the town's historical center.

I guess the last mystery is the second button, if it even is a button. If anyone wants I can post photos of the other civilian buttons too!

 

[NOLA_Ken]

The second one I would think is a Colonial Era flat button, I'm by no means an expert on them, but I do recall seeing at least one similar button that was ID'd as Colonial. I think your site might be a very good candidate to sift and screen, who knows what all is in there waiting to be found?

 

[nhbenz]

I just re-learned that they're called "basket weave" buttons, and do turn up a fair bit at colonial sites, but I don't know for sure either if they were from then or a bit later. Here's another recently found example: http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/revolutionary-war/508483-basket-weave-buttons-rev-battery.html

 

[Fullstock]

You are in one heck of a good spot, no telling what you'll find there.

 

[nsdq]

The Eagle is a cap badge 1820-1840's Silver is for Arty Gold is Inf , found one a bit ago approx 1836 era , cool finds

 

[paleomaxx]

You all are fantastic, and a special thanks to nhbenz for all the great info! Below are all the finds as of yesterday.




NOLA_Ken I think you may be right on the sift and screen idea. The find density is tremendous (everything so far within 40'x40', but the soil is packed with slate fragments and hundreds upon hundreds of forged nails so getting a clean signal has been tricky. I'm also starting to get the sense that there are two distinct layers of artifacts. I went back today and started finding much larger pieces in the deeper layer. I'll try and get photos up tomorrow, but we have an axe head, hoe blade, and most surprisingly a child's stirrup. I also have two more civilian buttons and a copper belt buckle from today's hunt.

Between the copious civilian and military buttons, clay pipe stems, numerous quahog shells, and the pewter spoon, my original theory was that this was a burned down tavern, but the child's stirrup and farming equipment seem to conflict with that. Does anyone have any other theories?

 

[NOLA_Ken]

A childs stirrup isn't necessarily out of place at a tavern site, keep in mind a lot of innkeepers and their families lived on site, and farming type equipment could be from them keeping a garden out back as well.

I'd have to dig every inch of it.... keep us posted on what you find?

 

[paleomaxx]

So here's the next batch of finds and two more mystery pieces.



The first piece is copper with silver plate. Definitely broken at the end where it flattens, but the curved head is intact.

The second piece is lead with the residue of iron that rusted away. The iron looks like it was dipped in the lead as it solidified. The lead also has some shallow channels which look like they were patterns in the original mold.

The buckle and two buttons were in the shallow layer. The silver button doesn't have any discernible writing on the back, and the other has a wreath with only the word "gilt" on the back. The large pieces are from the deeper dig (6-8").



The first large object is the axe head. I didn't find any wood residue and the missing chip also wasn't in the hole. Same with the hoe blade; the missing half was not in the hole. The stirrup is next to a size 13 shoe which, granted is pretty big, but one of the other suggestions I've heard is that the stirrup is from a sidesaddle, so just for a woman's toe.

The last piece is just for interest, a whole example of the numerous shell fragments that are in the ground too. I'm hoping to have more time to hunt in the next couple of days!

 

[paleomaxx]

NOLA_Ken that is true, and a family garden shed/tack room would definitely explain why all the large pieces were clustered together at the same depth. I'm still trying to get some historical records from the area and I'm hoping that will shed some light on this site. Thank you again for all the help!

 

[NOLA_Ken]

Well, you definitely have a colonial era site, keep looking and I'll bet you the coins will start coming.... If I lived closer I'd bring over a 12 pack and help you sift the whole area....