Gold button

[Cold Digger]

Gold overlay. Dug on CW skirmish site in Louisiana. About 1" in diameter.

 

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[DigIron2]

good find,looks like it will clean up pretty good.does it say something on the front?

 

[Cold Digger]

Not sure yet, has 16 raised dots on it.

 

[DigIron2]

Not sure yet, has 16 raised dots on it.

oh, that is what I see.looks like you could bring some gilt out on that button.nice find.Post when cleaned too if you would.

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Can't tell for certain whether it is a 1-piece button or a 2-piece button from viewing your photo of the button's back in un-cleaned condition. But it appears to be a 2-piece civilian-usage "Fashion" button from the mid-1830s through early 20th-Century. That being said, yours is "probably" from the 1830s to 1860s.

Civil war relic diggers call that type a "flower button" due to the ornate goldplated emblems on them, even when the emblem is not a flower. Although they were manufactured for use on civilian clothing, we know with certainty that some Confederate soldiers used them on their uniforms when the CS Army became unable to supply replacement Military buttons. But keep in mind, please, that the VAST majority of "flower buttons" were worn by civilians.

Being a goldplated fancy button, it should have a backmark (maker's-mark), which can help us to time-date it more narrowly. Please gently clean the dirt-encrustation of the back and tell us what the backmark says.

 

[Cold Digger]

Will do, this was a field shot and I was afraid to clean anymore than I had to. Best we can tell it is one piece. Get new photos up ASAP. Thanks.

 

[golden sluice]

Nice find, however, gold button refers to melting down some prospected gold and selling it as a button.
Your title suckered me in.


Good one.

 

[CC Hunter]

Cold Digger,

Your button find carries a design that appears rather familiar to my eye, being one that quite certainly has been dug among the thousands of buttons excavated over the past thirty years or more. I believe this is in fact a low convex two-piece brass button, dating to around the late 1830's through 1840's, being manufactured by one of the principal American companies based in Waterbury Connecticut, such as R.W. Robinson, W.H. Jones, Scovills, or Ives, Kendrick & Co., and others. The design of 16 closely spaced dots within a detailed background, is quite distinct and falls within the various design patterns noted to be of a popular style during the era of "Golden Age" buttons. These Golden Age buttons of the earlier 19th Century exhibit a degree of die work and manufacturing detail rarely seen in later years, as mass production and cost-cutting techniques took precedence over the eye pleasing work seen earlier during the pinnacle of quality button manufacturing.


CC Hunter