The Mystery of the Button...

[coinman123]

I have one question, how come in the 1700's and 1800's people lost so many buttons but so few coins I have always wondered why buttons were lost some much, it's not like a button can just fall off of your shirt. I would also expect that coins would be easier to lose than buttons. Anyways, buttons are probably one of my favorite finds though due to how unique and personal they can be. I have accumulated a small collection of them during 2014 and 2015.


Here are some buttons I found in 2014 and 2015
Dandy Buttons


Tombac Buttons


Flat Buttons in General (No two piece buttons shown and a couple flat buttons not in photo)

 

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[Loco-Digger]

I guess many women did not sew as good as they thought.

 

[Iron Patch]

Has mostly to do with the number of years the site was lived on and you collecting what they lost in 30,40, 50 years in the matter of a few hours. Those peole worked very hard so it shouldn't be too difficult to imagine two buttons on average could pop off a year over 50 years, and 100 buttons seems like a lot if they are spread over a small area. Add in two more houses that were close, and that's 300 and seems like they are everywhere.... because they likely would be.

 

[coinman123]

Very good explanation IP, 75% of those buttons come from the same site which was densely populated for years. I find buttons from the 1750's through the 1850's which means people probably dropped a couple buttons a year accounting for the ones I did not find.

Also, Just wondering, how many buttons have you found this year so far?

 

[Iron Patch]

Very good explanation IP, 75% of those buttons come from the same site which was densely populated for years. I find buttons from the 1750's through the 1850's which means people probably dropped a couple buttons a year accounting for the ones I did not find.

Also, Just wondering, how many buttons have you found this year so far?

Very few as I have only been out twice, both at places that have been hunted for years. My best years I dug about a 1,000 for the year.

 

[ironhorse]

Buttons were the fastener with no rival at the time.
Those were the days of no Velcro, zippers weren't invented yet, all fabric was natural fibres, they broke down over time and didn't have the durability of man made ones, a lot of work was manual and washing machines with delicate cycle consisted of not whacking clothes on the rock too hard lol, and chances are everything was hung out to dry outside.
Not everyone had money, but I think most everyone had clothes, so buttons were obviously lost way more than coins

 

[coinman123]

Very few as I have only been out twice, both at places that have been hunted for years. My best years I dug about a 1,000 for the year.

Holy I thought that my measly 45 in my first season of hunting at colonial places and so far my second season was decent. After hearing your amount I think I found nothing!!

 

[Silver Searcher]

I had a very nice field that I detected and had to give up on because of the amount of buttons on it, it was nothing to get 30 in the first hour. I just got sick of digging them, might sound strange to you guys but when your looking for the older stuff, you don't want to be digging buttons all day.

SS

 

[bigfoot1]

if you google 16th thru 19th century clothing you may find that buttons were also used to style the clothing.even a single overcoat could have 15 or more.everything seemed covered in buttons.just a thot

 

[ironhorse]

if you google 16th thru 19th century clothing you may find that buttons were also used to style the clothing.even a single overcoat could have 15 or more.everything seemed covered in buttons.just a thot

Im a big fan of urban dictionary, check out your word "thot"

It will surprise you

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

I have always wondered why buttons were lost some much . . .

Older cotton and linen threads don't hold up like modern Nylon and synthetic thread?

 

[coinman123]

Sorry, off-topic but do know how old this button is IP, blank smooth and flat front and cone like back. It looks to be made of tombac. Way smaller thicker and heaver than most of the tombacs I find too, not sure



I figured I would ask even if I am kind of hijacking my own thread

Sorry about no photos of the front but it is not indented in anyway if that helps.