Pair of Vintage "British" Buttons 'Rich Orange' - Do Not Know Details(When/Where/How/Etc)

[Trash404]

Hello, fellow treasure hunters!**
**Admin Note/Questions... I read the rules & could not find anything about posting two or more times in general &/or within the same forum, but if I missed it or it is preferred for user to submit one per day or one per forum, then I will follow that standard! Just let me know, thank you!

FYI, I recently came into possession of a few items purchased from an in-person auction up here in the DE/PA area & would like to know more about what I've found... it contained pins, tokens, coins, buttons, & more.

I'm a treasure hunter with heavy focus on coins/currency (big numismatic nerd here), so needless to say, I know nothing about buttons. I have a box filled with labeled/stored buttons (which I have already or will also post because I'm hoping y'all can help me identify them as well). This is a set/pair of buttons stored in a plastic dual compartment 2x2 with a handwritten labeled that states "British buttons --- 2 pieces --- Writing on Back"

Composition: Unknown but NON-Magnetic
Obverse: Two Buttons with the same front; Middle/Center has a 6 petal flower surrounded by a circle of small dots. On the outside edge there are 3 items - 1. 1 single rose-like flower with stem, 2. Stem of leaves? with 5 leaves, & 3. another group of thicker leaves on stems
Reverse: Two Buttons; one with illegible markings & the other that appears to have "Rich" --- Star --- "Or[ange]" --- Star (Repeat)

I would love to know the era/time period, maybe composition, 'Condition rating' (if that exists with buttons), & value.... but truly ANY guidance &/or information (even fun facts) will be much appreciated!

 

[Red-Coat]

Nice-looking buttons. Civilian and patriotic. The emblems surrounding the central flower are the rose (for England), the thistle (for Scotland), and the shamrock (for Ireland) as the countries of the UK. Wales was regarded as "part of England", so their emblem of a leek is not usually depicted.

Terms such as “Rich Orange” began appearing in Britain after 1796 following legislation to inhibit less ethical makers from using the term “Gilt” on buttons with less than then the approved minimum amount of gold (set at 1/96th of an ounce per gross of 1 inch buttons and multiples of that for “Double Gilt” and “Treble/Triple Gilt.) It usually means they have little or no gold in the applied coating.

Your buttons have a raised backmark and those began to be superseded by indented backmarks from around 1810 and are rarely seen after about 1840.

 

[Trash404]

Nice-looking buttons. Civilian and patriotic. The emblems surrounding the central flower are the rose (for England), the thistle (for Scotland), and the shamrock (for Ireland) as the countries of the UK. Wales was regarded as "part of England", so their emblem of a leek is not usually depicted.

Terms such as “Rich Orange” began appearing in Britain after 1796 following legislation to inhibit less ethical makers from using the term “Gilt” on buttons with less than then the approved minimum amount of gold (set at 1/96th of an ounce per gross of 1 inch buttons and multiples of that for “Double Gilt” and “Treble/Triple Gilt.) It usually means they have little or no gold in the applied coating.

Your buttons have a raised backmark and those began to be superseded by indented backmarks from around 1810 and are rarely seen after about 1840.

Thank you for all this information! It is so helpful! I do have one followup question (for now)... so do buttons that say "double/Treble gilt" have LESS gold or more than just "gilt"

PS I have another post in the "What is this?" post with a couple other sets of British buttons I'm trying to identify if you are willing to look & share any further expertise! Thank you again!

 

[Red-Coat]

You're welcome.

Gilt buttons became fashionable in Britain in the mid-to-late 1790s, with the gilding achieved using a closely-guarded process that coated then with an amalgam of mercury and gold and then drove off the mercury (electro-plating didn’t appear until the 1840s). The term ‘gilt’ was quickly and sometimes misleadingly used by unscrupulous manufacturers to describe a golden-colour finish with little or no actual gold used, often so poor that the colour would disappear within a few weeks of wear. Some of the gold-coloured lacquers used would even fade when exposed to sunlight.

In 1796, the legislation put a stop to this (or rather made it a criminal offence), prohibiting the term “Gilt” to describe buttons where the gold content was lower than the figures I quoted above. The term “Gilt” was specified for buttons having at least 1/96th of an ounce of gold per gross of 1 inch buttons. “Double Gilt” required twice that amount, and “Treble/Triple Gilt” required three times that amount.

From that point onwards, manufacturers took to using terms such as “rich”, “extra-rich”, “extra-fine”, “extra-strong” and “orange” to circumvent the legislation and/or promote the quality of their buttons (with varying degrees of honesty).

I’ll take a look at your other thread and help if I can, as I’m sure will other members.

 

[Gare]

Very nice congrats

 

[oldmxrat]

Beautiful buttons, congrats!