Guilded Button?

[AugustMoose87]

Yes is the answer I'm looking for...





I'm hoping I may have my first gold find... I recovered a lost wedding ring for someone, but I don't feel like that counts,and obviously I wish there was more gold, but at this point I'll take what I can get... the body appears to be brass, some kind of wreath on the front.

Curious about the odd loop on the back too...

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Very few "antique" buttons were oval-shaped, and most "antique" cufflinks were oval-shaped. In my opinion your find is a gilded brass cufflink component, and the high quality of the emblem-stamping and gilting indicate it is most likely from the early-1800s, though perhaps somewhat earlier.

 

[AugustMoose87]

Awesome, two, possibly 3 firsts in one! Gold, cuff and 1800's

I want to clean it up a bit, but am always scared... distilled water? Hydrogen peroxide?

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Dilute some common household Ammonia to 50-50 with water, and soak your cufflink component in it for 5 minutes. Then gently scrub it with an old toothbrush dipped in the 50-50 ammonia/water solution. Re-soak for another 5 minutes if neccessary. Repeat several times if neccessary. After the final gentle scrubbing, rinse it thoroughly under running water... but be careful not to drop it down the sink drain.

 

[coinman123]

I heard that oval cufflinks are from around 1780 to around the early 1800's. Before that they were round shaped instead of oval shaped. Based on the style of the design stamped on the front and style of loop on the back, I would would that your cufflink was probably made in the 1820's-1840's. After that, I think that loops on the back fell out of fashion to the more modern bar connector. Great find! A first of all three categories! Hydrogen peroxide works good on showing gilt based on my experience. I had a crusty button recent end up having 50% of the original gift show up after a ten minute soak in peroxide.

Congrats, I would love finding that!