✅ SOLVED button back???

[ocjeff]

hi, found this button in a virginia farm field. the front is flat with nothing on it. i do not know if it is a one pcs button with the front degraded or the back of a two pcs button? have no luck finding it by the markings on the back.any body seen one of these? thanks for your help. jeff

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Your find is a 1810-1830s era brass 1-piece "flatbutton." The majority of that basic type found in America were manufactured in Britain. But your button has an American eagle in the backmark (maker's-mark or seller's-mark), so we know your flatbutton was made in America ...which means your button dates from the very-early-1820s to 1830s.

The words in your button's backmark (Ne Plus Ultra) is a statement of the button's quality. It is a Latin phrase, whose literal meaning is "nothing higher" ...or colloqially "The highest point, as of excellence or achievement; the ultimate." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Latin_phrases_(N)

Since you said you are unsure... the front of your 1-piece flatbutton was manufactured plain/blank -- it did not have an emblem that got corroded away.

Your brass button was heavily goldplated. During years of use, the goldplating wore off your button's front, which allowed that area of brass to corrode in the ground. Unlike the front, the button's back is not subject to heavy wear, so the goldplating tends to remain on it... which had the effect of protecting the back's lettering from corrosion in the ground.

 

[ocjeff]

thank you for your time and help.i was having trouble finding any thing about it. thanks jeff