button help

[tomcat9605]

Hey guys,
I found this button on a Revolutionary war battle site. Just driving me crazy trying to find info on it. Nothing comes up when I type in the words I can make out on the back. I may be wrong, but what I see is, ORANOR COLOUR TEMPLE GILT, on the outer area. Around the shank WARRANT?, I think there is another letter but the shank is bent over that area. Also a number 3, with 3 rays on each side. Some gilt is still visible. I found it in the British lines. Am I seeing the letters right or is it something else? I believe it was a two piece with the front missing. Thanks for any info. This is a pic. and a negative of it.

Tom

 

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[romeo-1]

"Treble" Gilt...late 18th century...

 

[duggap]

I believe it said orange, and warrant may have had an ed on it. That button could well have gone back. British I believe.

 

[tomcat9605]

I believe Orange could well be it. And Treble would make more sense. Any idea who the maker is? I tried warrant and it's variance's like warranted.

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

It is a British-made 1-piece brass flatbutton. The presence of indented (not "raised") lettering in the backmark dates your dug-in-America flatbutton to approximately 1810 into the late-1830s.

The backmark says "Treble (meaning, triple) Gilt" and "Orange Colour" -- which is the British spelling of the the word color. Orange meant the gold gilt had a higher copper content, producing an orange color rather than yellow or golden. "Warranted" meant the quality-rating was guaranteed.

It is a generic backmark, used by many button-manufacturers in Great Britain. As noted above, the British spelling of color as "colour" tells where that button was made.

 

[tomcat9605]

Thank you very much. That's a lot more then I knew before. Wonder why it's in a 1781 battle site. Answers always lead to more questions!

 

[Ramitt]

because the battle site is not hermetically sealed and history happened after that moment at that spot.

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Tomcat9605 wrote:
> Wonder why it's in a 1781 battle site.

Tomcat, although Ramitt has already supplied the correct answer, I'll give you a more-detailed one. The version of button you found was manufactured in the tens-of-millions for the Civilian garment-making industry. (Yes, a few did get used on Militia uniforms, but their usage was overwhelmingly civilian, not Miiitary. EVERYbody wore 1-piece brass buttons, unless you were so down-in-the-dirt poor you could only afford wooden or bone buttons. Also, nobody "respected" the old battlefields by restricting the land's use, as we do now. You could build a house on it, farm it, and dump your houshold garbage on the old battlefields. That is why we dig Indian-Head pennies, beercan pulltabs, horseharness buckles that were invented and patented in 1892, and Model-T Ford carparts on Revolutionary War and Civil War battlefields.

I'll close by mentioning that in the original 13 Colonies states there seems to be ALMOST not a single square acre that doesn't have an early-1800s brass 1-piece flatbutton on it. I live in a subdivision 15 miles away from the nearest battlefield (a very small battle), and I found an early-1800s brass 1-piece flatbutton by eyesight when I dug a hole for a rosebush in my back yard.

 

[tomcat9605]

Well again I thank you for the info. I was unaware that the button was more of a civilian type. Hope you and your family have a good Christmas!