Button Help.

[Garabaldi]

When I dug this button it was crusted with dirt. I noticed a bit of sparkle, so i used some alluminum jelly on it and to my surprise it shined up nicely.
How old do you think this button is and do you think its real gold gild?
Thanks you.

 

[Montana Jim]

Looks like a beautiful two piece gold gilt (yes, really) button - most likely victorian, depending on manufacturer and button back. Is the back brass or iron?

 

[Garabaldi]

The back I believe is iron. Thanks for the info.

 

[BuckleBoy]

That is one beautiful gold gilded button. Great cleaning job on it, too. Aluminum jelly is where it's at.

Cheers,


Buckles

 

[CC Hunter]

Garabaldi,

Your button is a two-piece "geometric" design civilian button. The button face is stamped brass, and the button back is tinned iron. There is indeed a thin coat of real gold gilt on the button design. These "geometric" buttons tend to date late 1840's up through the early 1860's. We occasionally see carry-over into 1870's sites, yet by the 1880's and 1890's, these are almost never seen.

These are a good period indicator and one that many relic hunters note when searching for quality buttons, as they are the right time period for the best mid-19th century finds.

CC Hunter

 

[dneyedli@res1.mts.net]

Garabaldi,

Your button is a two-piece "geometric" design civilian button. The button face is stamped brass, and the button back is tinned iron. There is indeed a thin coat of real gold gilt on the button design. These "geometric" buttons tend to date late 1840's up through the early 1860's. We occasionally see carry-over into 1870's sites, yet by the 1880's and 1890's, these are almost never seen.

These are a good period indicator and one that many relic hunters note when searching for quality buttons, as they are the right time period for the best mid-19th century finds.

CC Hunter

This is a nice description for a button with this design that has a brass backing with maker mark but this button has a tin back and is not as early as you are stating. 8)

 

[CC Hunter]

This is a nice description for a button with this design that has a brass backing with maker mark but this button has a tin back and is not as early as you are stating. 8)

Hi Muddyhandz,

The general rule that tinned back two-piece buttons date after the American Civil War, and company marked brass backed two-piece buttons are period and earlier, is fairly accurate in dating most military buttons (there actually are a few tinned back exceptions with Confederate examples and others). When comparing civilian buttons though, the definition lines can occasionally drift a bit. The big fancy one-piece civilian, as well as the similar two-piece, "golden age buttons", of the of the 1820-40 period often will in fact have backmarks from the same companies that manufactured military buttons during the period. These little geometrics though, fall in a different catagory. I've seen many of these little geometric two-piece buttons, both tinned back and brass back, actually dug on 1850's-1860's sites, and cannot recall having seen a single one with a backmark. There are in fact tinned back two-piece buttons from the 1840's and 1850's, (please check out the political section in Albert's, and note the Z. Taylor examples).

CC Hunter