dating a button. OLD ONE

[Detect History]

Hey all. I've been trying to identify the age of this button. It rang in as foil so I believe it's a tobacco ot pewter.

I found it in an old farm field along with 15 others. Some with and without back marks. I can't find anything related to the shank at all. It's a tally a dark silvery color.

Much appreciated

 

[screwynewy]

Looks like a drilled shank flat button. I'm no button expert but I would say it dates back to as early as the mid 18th century. The buttons with backmarks are probably later 18th to early 19th century.

 

[Bill D. (VA)]

I agree with Ken on the age of your button (mid-to-late 1700s). It's considered to be a cast one-piece button with a drilled eye shank, and was generally of copper or copper-alloy construction so I'm surprised it rang in so low on your machine. Tombac and pewter would definitely read in that lower range but yours doesn't appear to be either based on the pics. And its definitely earlier than flat buttons with backmarks which started being produced in the very early 1800s. Nice find!