Double Gilt button I.D.

[long island red]

I found a button plain on the front. Backmark says double gilt no.9 with two (*) stars any help please my photo seems to large to post i am having trouble sizing it. Thanks

 

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[Montana Jim]

The "quality mark" of "* double gilt no. 9 * cannot be attributed to any one button maker as this mark was used by both British and American button makers from the 1790s through the early 1800s sometime.

Someone with a button book may be able to help a little more.

No. 9 is probebly a button "size" or "type" number.

"Double gilt" means that "gold shall be equally spread upon their upper surface exclusively of their edges, in the portion of 10 grams to the surface of a circle 12 inches in diameter". [It's simply a statement that an amount of gilt was used... so it's better than just plain ole' gilted I guess]

-- Source: The Book of English Trades, and Library of the Useful Arts. 1818

 

[long island red]

Thanks Montana Jim!