Buttons from the woods

[rasrandy]

Ive been hunting these woods all week(low to mid 40s here)
and dug these buttons at about 5 1/2 in. One is plain and flat
the other has a star symbol with rays and maybe a sun in center.
No backmarks seen. Any help appreciated thanks HHs

 

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[rasrandy]

2nd pic

 

[tsgman]

Cool buttons, Tsgman

 

[Bavaria Mike]

I think they are called Tombac buttons, Tombac being the type of loop on the back and are one piece. 18th century maybe? I'm not great with buttons, LOL, but maybe that's a little help. HH, Mike

 

[JakePhelps]

Awesoem finds!! the second one is tombac, not sure when they used it though.

 

[birdman]

Gotta love those buttons!!!

 

[rasrandy]

After reading your replies I did some searching.I found out that tombac was a brass alloy with high percentages of zinc and sometimes arsenic.This alloy can range from yellow to aluminum in color.It is often still shiny when excavated and was commonly used for buttons in the 18th century,particularly 1770-1800.These buttons are common on revolutionary war period sites.

A little info for you guys on tombac buttons.
HappyHunts

 

[JakePhelps]

Thanks for the info on those! helps alot Do you think they were used after 1800? or is it safe to say they were before then?

 

[comfyinvermont]

Hey Rasrandy, cool buttons, but I don't think either is Tombac. The Tombac button will come out of the ground looking like pewter. When cleaned up they look like a dull silver or shiny pewter. Those both look pretty old though. I would say both before 1800. The second one appears to be between 1775 and 1800 as that is when they had the large one piece buttons. The other may be earlier. I would research that one a bit. Congrats on some excellent finds...Lance

 

[rasrandy]

Jake- just do a search on 'tombac buttons' theres info there on these sites
that I have not read yet.Its all pretty new to me so I cant answer your
questions just yet.More research is needed to positively ID my Buttons.
HappyHunts

 

[trk5capt]

RASRANDY, Nice finds. I have dug the Flat buttons in both CW & REV. WAR sites. Good Hunting & Merry Christmas trk5capt... 8)

 

[rasrandy]

Thanks for all the posted info it was helpful.Will be posting some new
buttons I havent seen before.HHs

 

[treasures4me2find]

Cool button and thanks for all the info. Congrats on your hunt.

Ken

 

[treasures4me2find]

Cool button and thanks for all the info. Congrats on your hunt.

Ken

 

[Southcacalaky]

Not sur on the type of button, Great finds, HH Art...

 

[Strand-Filter]

Nice finds.

Good informatiuon about the buttons.

 

[Nana40]

Very nice Randy!!!