Solid Silver 1757 - 1774 British Royal Navy Captain's Dress Cuff Links

[Donnie B from VA]

Got out yesterday and hit a new colonial cellar hole permission. Site was stingy and had, obviously, been dug before but not very recently. I got a few odds and ends but the Find of the Day was this pair of Solid Silver 1757 - 1774 British Royal Navy Captain's Dress Cuff Links. These are identified on two websites (one UK and one in the US). Cuff links, or sleave buttons, are among my favorite finds and these are first solid silver I have found.

 

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[toasted]

Sweet save. You dont find early silver cufflinks much and a linked set is almost unheard off I would think

 

[Professor of Engineering]

Congrats on the nice piece of history!

 

[Kray Gelder]

A really great find! A piece of history for sure.

 

[thrifty76now]

Neat find.

 

[Aureus]

Beautiful early find! Congratulations!

 

[Digger RJ]

Nice!!! Congrats!!!

 

[Gridwalker306]

Man those are some nice links congrats

 

[xcopperstax]

Amazing find and to be able to ID something like that is a feat in itself. Although the hole was stingy that is a pretty darn awesome find. That would be month maker for me! Maybe even a couple months! Haha! Congrats!

 

[BLK HOLE]

Very cool save!! Congrats

 

[Inspector]

Awesome score, linked silver from Officer , how cool, big congratulations on the save

 

[Javadroid]

Aye, that's a rare and beautiful find to be sure. Well done & congrats!

 

[Silvermonkey]

Your silver cufflinks are fantastic. Great recovery!

 

[Iron Patch]

A linked solid silver one is not easy to find! Good warm up for the gold.

 

[colonialct]

Rare find -Congrats they are beautiful

 

[Steve in PA]

Beautiful Mid 18th Century silver cufflinks.

 

[CRUSADER]

Nice to get them complete, but the Navy connection is tentative at best. Civilian is highly more likely. Flower & rose motif's of all designs are common in that period on buttons as well as cuff-links. Makes for a better story when connected to the Navy, but if they did wear them, they choose to like any other better off Civilian.

 

[Donnie B from VA]

Nice to get them complete, but the Navy connection is tentative at best. Civilian is highly more likely. Flower & rose motif's of all designs are common in that period on buttons as well as cuff-links. Makes for a better story when connected to the Navy, but if they did wear them, they choose to like any other better off Civilian.

I understand that there is a good deal of debate in the detecting community regarding these linked buttons and other buttons of the period. One of the Facebook groups recently had a "discussion" where everyone stated his or her "opinion." As a matter of fact, your prior statements regarding these buttons were linked from T-Net in that group.

I have noted two sites that list the style I found as Navy (one in the UK and one in the US). The US site is given to hyperbole (in my opinion). The UK site does have some very interesting examples with an "RN" touch mark (the links I found have no such mark). The style that I found have been known to have a maker's mark on the link; however, I can see no mark on my link. I have also looked at many of these linked buttons (identical and similar designs) on the Portable Antiquities Scheme website and have noted that none are listed as Navy.

I have also studied paintings of British Naval Officers and looked at photos of period uniforms in museum collections. I did run across a photo of silver buttons cut off the uniform of a Hessian Colonel after the Battle of Trenton in the Revolutionary War but those are not the same style. It proves nothing in regards to my links, but is interesting nonetheless. I will continue to search for definitive proof either way. There is a very real possibility that no such "proof" exists. I can definitely see the arguments on both sides of the debate but I will never be fully satisfied until I uncover the missing "link."