Button identification

creade

Bronze Member
Jun 23, 2013
1,193
1,670
n.h.
Detector(s) used
DEUS,root slayer
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I dug these button from a very old site. Does anyone recognize the backmark? PXL_20210811_002522501~2.jpg PXL_20210811_180139241.jpg
 

Red-Coat

Gold Member
Dec 23, 2019
5,206
16,318
Surrey, UK
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Cool buttons. The backmark is L.S. & S, which is for Leavenworth, Spencer and Sperry. I believe the partnership ran from 1835-1849 in Waterbury CT.
 

Upvote 0

TheCannonballGuy

Gold Member
Feb 24, 2006
6,528
12,996
Occupied CSA (Richmond VA)
Detector(s) used
White's 6000, Nautilus DMC-1, Minelab
Primary Interest:
Relic Hunting
Red-Coat, the McGuinn-&-Bazelon book on dating buttons by their backmark says LS&S was in business from 1835-39. You said 1835-49. Was that a typo, or are using using a different backmark-dating resource?
 

Upvote 0

Red-Coat

Gold Member
Dec 23, 2019
5,206
16,318
Surrey, UK
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Red-Coat, the McGuinn-&-Bazelon book on dating buttons by their backmark says LS&S was in business from 1835-39. You said 1835-49. Was that a typo, or are using using a different backmark-dating resource?

Hi CbG. I used the word “believe” advisedly. Your book may well be correct. I was indeed using a different source. Biographical notes from a genealogy website say that Corydon Stillman Sperry “was a partner from 1835 to 1849 with Mark Leavenworth and Willard Spencer in Waterbury CT as LEAVENWORTH, SPENCER & SPERRY, manufacturing gilt, brass, and cloth buttons.

Those notes could be wrong, or it may be that they stopped making buttons (or using that backmark) at an earlier date... since that wasn't their only product line.
 

Last edited:
Upvote 0

Red-Coat

Gold Member
Dec 23, 2019
5,206
16,318
Surrey, UK
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
PS: I don't know if it's the case here, but from personal experience I often find that dates for a "company" in reputable sources are not always reliable when the item has come from a poorly documented company. It's often the case that the "people" are better documented than the company itself.
 

Upvote 0

Top Member Reactions

Users who are viewing this thread

Top