Pewter button of some sort?

[Noah_D]

Found at a site where I have found coins and relics ranging from 1820s to 1860s. It feels and looks like a pewter button, and it looks like it had some kind of iron shank. I'm not 100% sure if it is even a button, does anyone know what, how old it is, or have any other information? Thanks.

 

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[Fossils]

Looks like a colonial flat button to me. It’s probably from the mid to late 18th Century. Nice find!

 

[Noah_D]

Wow! Really? I wonder how it would have gotten there, there wasn't activity on the site until at least 1815 or 1820ish. Perhaps it was on an older coat one of the settlers brought along or something along those lines?

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Your button is not made of Pewter. It is what is called a Colonial era "Spun-back" 1-piece button made of a brass alloy called White Tombac. It differs from "regular" Tombac by having 1% of metal Arsenic added into the usual Tombac's 85% copper + 15% zinc recipe. The addition of the Arsenic turns the Tombac's usual golden color into a silvery color. Your button's date ranges from the 2nd half of the 1700s into the early 1800s.

Sidenote which may be of interest (and educational) to some people:
During World War 2, Canada manufactured some 5-cent coins made of "regular" Tombac. You can see its golden color in the photo below. That color was brighter when the coin was in uncirculated condition. The other photo shows a Romanian coin made of White Tombac, showing that metal's silvery color.

After-posting edit:
I added the time-dating chart, which tells the approximate dating of various forms of Colonial era 1-piece buttons.

 

[Noah_D]

Your button is not made of Pewter. It is what is called a Colonial era "Spun-back" 1-piece button made of a brass ally called White Tombac. It differs from "regular" Tombac by having 1% of the metal Arsenic added into the usual Tombac's 85% copper + 15% zinc recipe. The addition of the Arsenic turns the Tombac's usual orange-golden color into a silvery color. Your button's date ranges from the 2nd half of the 1700s into the early 1800s.

Sidenote which may be of interest (and educational) to some people:
During World War 2, Canada manufactured some 5-cent coins made of "regular" Tombac. You can see its golden color in the photo below. That color was brighter when the coin was in uncirculated condition. The other photo shows a Romanian coin made of White Tombac, showing that metal's silvery color.

Thanks Cannonballguy! I was really hoping you would stumble across my thread and post!

 

[Noah_D]

In the middle of the button, just above the horizontal centerline; are those just deep scratches or some sort of intentional mark or carving? I'm leaning toward scratch but I figured I'd post anyway.