Copper Button? No shank.

[ToastedWheatie]

Found this yesterday on a property occupied before 1800.

Small "domed" shape, not completely flat.

I can find no evidence of a shank. No solder mark, nothing.

Based on appearance and patina (and MD reading, but we all know how accurate THAT can be!lol),
the item is copper.

Can this be a button, or a piece to that part of the thingy?

 

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[DigIron2]

Looks like a early flat button,but I can't tell you from pics.The domed shaped ones are referred to as convex buttons.I have found some where it was really hard to see where the shank was mated on.

 

[ToastedWheatie]

Thanks for the input. Thought it strange that a relatively heavy piece like this wouldn't have remnants of a shank.

 

[donkarlos]

Strange - it does have that early button look to it. Maybe it was just an unusually clean break.
Do you think it was silver plated at some point?

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

In one of the photos, the copper disc does look it has silverplate on it. IF (big if) I'm correct that it has some silverplate remaining on it, it probably is indeed a flatbutton which is now missing any trace of the loop. During the time when flatbuttons were made (1700s through early-1800s), "Sheffield Silverplate" was in use, which is a method for creating silverplated copper. Many copper flatbuttons were Sheffield Silverplate buttons.

HISTORY OF SHEFFIELD SILVERPLATE & IDENTIFICATION GUIDES