🔎 UNIDENTIFIED Mystery button

creade

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Jun 23, 2013
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I dug this today. Has anyone seen anything like this before. I don't even recognize the backmark.
PXL_20211005_192946874.jpg
 

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ticndig

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Apr 17, 2009
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wheat and sickle brass button . back mark - extra gilt col'r mid 1800s livery button.
 

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TheCannonballGuy

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Your find is definitely what button-collectors call a "Jacksonian" button -- because it is a unique form of button which was made during the administration of American president Andrew Jackson (late-1820s/early-1830s). Basically, it is a brass 1-piece flatbutton with an applied rim. All of that being said, most were manufactured in Britain... which explains your find's extremely unusual backmark. They are civilian, and not Livery. There are many-many emblems, a few of which are "patriotic" but most are just general. See the photos below.
 

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creade

creade

Bronze Member
Jun 23, 2013
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Your find is definitely what button-collectors call a "Jacksonian" button -- because it is a unique form of button which was made during the administration of American president Andrew Jackson (late-1820s/early-1830s). Basically, it is a brass 1-piece flatbutton with an applied rim. All of that being said, most were manufactured in Britain... which explains your find's extremely unusual backmark. They are civilian, and not Livery. There are many-many emblems, a few of which are "patriotic" but most are just general. See the photos below.
That's great information! Thanks a lot!
 

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Red-Coat

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Dec 23, 2019
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Your find is definitely what button-collectors call a "Jacksonian" button -- because it is a unique form of button which was made during the administration of American president Andrew Jackson (late-1820s/early-1830s). Basically, it is a brass 1-piece flatbutton with an applied rim. All of that being said, most were manufactured in Britain... which explains your find's extremely unusual backmark. They are civilian, and not Livery. There are many-many emblems, a few of which are "patriotic" but most are just general. See the photos below.

Good info CbG and I agree.

Just to note that the heraldic convention for isolated crests (not just wheatsheafs, but crests in general) is that, unless there’s something like a motto on a scrolled banner underneath, they sit on a “torse”. The torse is a wreath composed of two pieces of rolled silk which, when depicted in colour, are almost always silver and red (argent and gules). By convention the torse is drawn edgewise, either straight, or more usually with slight curvature, like this:

Torse.jpg


Generally, if it’s not present, the device is not heraldic but just being used as a generic emblem. Lots of livery buttons use the wheatsheaf as a standalone crest, but those with ‘proper’ heraldic heritage have the torse, like this:

Wheatsheaf.JPG


More examples here (but note the torse, when the crest is isolated):

https://sites.google.com/site/liverybuttonsidentified/home/wheat


It’s possible that ‘pseudo-livery’ buttons created for pretentious reasons and using borrowed or fantasy crests might not follow the convention, but generally these are not true livery buttons in the sense of having historical family heritage.
 

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