NY button ID help needed..

littlemike · May 21, 2011

Thanks ahead of time for any help...

I have found a few that are similar but the writing and the amount of lines on the back have been different..and I have not seen one with the letters TP like mine has..

I am new to the hobby and have gave it my all to try and find out on my own.

littlemike · May 21, 2011

sorry about the size of the pictures.these are a little smaller.

TheCannonballGuy · May 21, 2011

As you probably already know, the button is NY-10 in the Albert button-book. The "TP" in the backmark is Thomas Potts, a button-dealer (but not manufacturer) in Birmingham, England, doing business from 1805 to 1835. More specifically, info in the McGuinn-&-Bazelon backmark-book indicates your button dates from sometime between 1816 and 1835.

By the way... the term "plated" in the backmark of such buttons always meant the button was silver-plated. For gold-plating, the term used was "gilt".