Gilded Lewis & Tomes "Extra Rich" flat brass button

[perdidogringo]

I got out after work yesterday for a quick hunt. For the first hour I didn't find anything so I figured, "OK, I'll turn around and go home." On the way back to my car, I first found a spent bullet of some kind, then two Wheat pennies (ok a little better) and then finally, I dug up a brass button. I could immediately see it was a flat button, but I couldn't make out the details until I got home. After delicately rinsing with distilled water, I could see the shank was intact (yeah!) and it looked gold-plated (!!!). Around the shank, it is inscribed with "Lewis & Tomes Extra Rich." This is what AI says about this button:

Your button is a Lewis & Tomes "Extra Rich" flat brass button, made in Birmingham, England between about 1819 and the early 1830s. Francis Tomes imported them from Edward Lewis’s factory for the American market. The front was intentionally plain, originally covered in a thin layer of gold gilding, while the back carries the maker’s name and the “Extra Rich” quality mark. Remarkably, some of that original gold gilding still survives around the shank on the back. This nineteen-millimeter size was commonly used on civilian coats and everyday militia uniforms in the 1820s and early 1830s, making it a nice early frontier-era find for suburban Chicago.

This is a pretty old find for the Chicago area!

 

[Blackfoot58]

That has great luster for being buried.
Very nice find. 👍🏼

 

[oldmxrat]

Wow, that's a sweet find, congrats!

 

[Trezurehunter]

Neat old button.

 

[E-Trac-Ohio]

Nice one !

 

[Fredneck]

Man that button would bling gold, front and back, after a lemon juice bath

 

[Gare]

Nice find and like Blackfo0ot said Great luster