🔎 UNIDENTIFIED Button help

[LostinGeorgia]

Found this at the same site where I found the 1873 Seated Liberty half recently. It is 27.4 mm in diameter. Has a spun back. Color doesn’t look right to be a Tombac but not sure as I have never found one.

 

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[LostinGeorgia]

Found this at the same site where I found the 1873 Seated Liberty half recently. It is 27.4 mm in diameter. Has a spun back. Color doesn’t look right to be a Tombac but not sure as I have never found one. Rang up 42 on my legend.

Found this at the same site where I found the 1873 Seated Liberty half recently. It is 27.4 mm in diameter. Has a spun back. Color doesn’t look right to be a Tombac but not sure as I have never found one.

Rang up 42 on my legend

 

[sibbley]

Looks like a tombac button. I don't think the one I found rang up that high though.

 

[pepperj]

Found this at the same site where I found the 1873 Seated Liberty half recently. It is 27.4 mm in diameter. Has a spun back. Color doesn’t look right to be a Tombac but not sure as I have never found one.

I would say it has a silver wash. Tombacks will retain the color without any leaching of any other color.

 

[pepperj]

Rang up 42 on my legend

A tomback cuff or a small shirt button will be a mid/high range tone on the Deus.
Not the greatest signal either if they're at any depth.
A brass button will sound higher.
Pewter can be even lower, and not a good sounding signal.

 

[sibbley]

A tomback cuff or a small shirt button will be a mid/high range tone on the Deus.
Not the greatest signal either if they're at any depth.
A brass button will sound higher.
Pewter can be even lower, and not a good sounding signal.

Both my lead pewter buttons had almost an iron grunt on the Legend.

 

[sibbley]

A tomback cuff or a small shirt button will be a mid/high range tone on the Deus.
Not the greatest signal either if they're at any depth.
A brass button will sound higher.
Pewter can be even lower, and not a good sounding signal.

I just swung my legend over my tombac shirt button. Out of the ground it gave me a 30. I think it was lower when in ground.

 

[pepperj]

Both my lead pewter buttons had almost an iron grunt on the Legend.

The program that I use the sound would be foil to .22 cal. The VDI is in the 40s if it were not the fact of digging anything that's not iron I would have missed the ones I did recover from this one site,

 

[pepperj]

I would tend to agree with you as the soil and the surrounding iron can influence the signal sound and VDI.
I can even have a surface rock giving iron a good high tone.
So after digging a few rocks on iron-I caught that one now.

Pewters don't fair well in my clay up here, they get really eaten up it seems.

 

[sibbley]

I would tend to agree with you as the soil and the surrounding iron can influence the signal sound and VDI.
I can even have a surface rock giving iron a good high tone.
So after digging a few rocks on iron-I caught that one now.

Pewters don't fair well in my clay up here, they get really eaten up it seems.

My two pewters are pretty eaten up as well.

 

[pepperj]

My two pewters are pretty eaten up as well.

Oh there comes a time and site where one will dig a pewter and go "Nice!".
Bush sites are generally more forgiving on the pewter than the acidic fields.

 

[CRUSADER]

TOMBAC.

 

[pepperj]

TOMBAC.

The button face shows a patina of copper color.
Now you have probably dug 100s if not 1000s of Tomac button/bells whole and bits and pieces.
Question: Is there different quality of a Tombac items.
Washed, partial, or does have to be the real deal?

I have some that are broken that I wonder about seeing them.
I snapped a broken piece of a Tombac crotal bell.
Green, brown, silvery along the crack. (Might have gotten mineralized influence in the crack)

 

[CRUSADER]

The button face shows a patina of copper color.
Now you have probably dug 100s if not 1000s of Tomac button/bells whole and bits and pieces.
Question: Is there different quality of a Tombac items.
Washed, partial, or does have to be the real deal?

I have some that are broken that I wonder about seeing them.
I snapped a broken piece of a Tombac crotal bell.
Green, brown, silvery along the crack. (Might have gotten mineralized influence in the crack)

Over 10,000 (Dad & I combined). They come in all kinds of metal quality.

 

[LostinGeorgia]

I guess the big question I have is we’re Tombacs the only buttons turned on a lathe. If not I am leaning more towards it not being tombac. But then again having never dug one that’s why I am here. Have dug some pewter buttons and yes in my soil they are pretty flacky on the edges. Thanks to everyone for the input.

 

[CRUSADER]

I guess the big question I have is we’re Tombacs the only buttons turned on a lathe. If not I am leaning more towards it not being tombac. But then again having never dug one that’s why I am here. Have dug some pewter buttons and yes in my soil they are pretty flacky on the edges. Thanks to everyone for the input.

Not sure on the manufacturing but I think these variants are called 'spun' Tombac Buttons.

 

[Almy]

I've found lots of plated copper (or copper alloy) buttons of the roughly 1750 to 1850 period and none have spun backs. I've also found lots of tombacs from the period, and all have spun backs.