This Weekend Was "On The Button"

[Brendan M.]

This Weekend Was "On The Button"

Greetings TNet Friends,

This weekend didn't exactly fill my keeper pouch like my hunts during this past week, but the quality was there. Lately I'd been thinking, "Gee, I'd like to find some of those nice old buttons I see posted," because the only real oldie I have is a plain flat button without markings, and some of the nice ones my pal Joe G. has been finding lately have really made me drool. So for a change fate smiled on me -- I went out this weekend and scored two beauties!

On Saturday I returned to the old farm site where Joe and I have been hunting lately. Overall it was a so-so day -- lots of shotgun shells and the occasional whatsit, plus two wheaties found in the same hole -- but thankfully I dug a rather iffy signal about six inches down and out came the nice flat button you see pictured below. After cleaning I was able to make out "Best Strong" in Olde English script and "Stand'd." I've been told it's early 1800s. If anyone knows anything about this pattern, please let me know. I also found another nice old buckle late in the day that helped send me home smiling (pictured as well).

Today was even better. My wife and I are expecting a baby boy next month -- our first youngin' -- and the shower was today. I was taking her to it, and when I looked at my map earlier for directions I noticed an old militia encampment I occasionally hunt was just a few minutes away. So instead of driving a half-hour home only to turn around again and go back later to take my wife home, I decided to hang nearby during the shower and hunt a little. It's generally tough going at this spot -- it's impossibly overgrown in the summer, and the winter's remaining weed stubble doesn't make swinging much easier, but I was determined.

Well after about an hour or two with just a few targets (shotgun shells, a wheatie, and some junk) I finally got this really nice penny/dime signal about six inches down. After some tricky pinpointing and digging, I see this big disc drop to the bottom from the side of the hole. Of course my heart skipped about 10 beats, figuring either I had an LC or even a half-dollar, but I was equally thrilled when I saw it was the gorgeous button pictured below. It's two pieces, has a hound on the front, and an eagle/bird engraving on the back, as well as the mark "Hayden & Co." It's literally the size of a half dollar and nice and heavy (the Walker in the pics is for scale -- not dug!). This sucker immediately went into the display case after a light cleaning.

Does anyone have any information about this button or its maker? And how about the size? What would you use a button that big for? I'm dying to know, so please put on your thinking caps!

So basically, my wish for some cool buttons came true. Guess I need to aim higher. Hmmmmm, a nice cache of Spanish gold is something I haven't found yet....

Cheers and HH,
Brendan

 

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[Joe G]

Re: This Weekend Was "On The Button"

Nice button Mr B!!! REALLY nice!

Can't seem to find anything on Hayden & Co. although there are hayden and scoville button backmarks. I'm sure someone here will figure it out. My guess is that it was an English hunting jacket button

 

[Brendan M.]

Re: This Weekend Was "On The Button"

Thanks bud.

 

[West Jersey Detecting]

Re: This Weekend Was "On The Button"

Brenden:

I found a little bit about Hayden. He was a button manufacturer from Mass. In 1811 He joined Scovill in Waterbury CT.
Here is what I found.

From the founding date recognized by the company, Scovill began business in 1802 in what was most likely a small wooden shed hidden behind a house in Waterbury, Connecticut. Its origins were steeped in the much-vaunted tradition of New England entrepreneurship, although the exact details of its first decade of business were murky at best, clouded by the passage of time and the modest origins from which it sprang. A handful of businessmen were affiliated with the company at its outset, when the business was known as Abel Porter & Company, including its namesake, the self-proclaimed "first Gilt Button Maker in the United States." Abel Porter, whose tenure with the company lasted less than a decade, was joined in 1808 by David Hayden, a button maker from Attleborough, Massachusetts, who stayed with the company through its first meaningful transition in 1811. In 1811, the cadre of Abel Porter & Company directors went their separate ways to pursue other interests, giving way to a new triumvirate of leaders. Hayden was one of the trio, a "second partner," whose prominence on some undetermined level fell short of a new arrival in 1811, Dr. Frederick Leavenworth. Leavenworth, who according to contemporary reports was "possessed of a quick insight into men and things," breathed new life into the company and offered himself as its leader. Although Leavenworth asserted his seniority in both the name of the new business and his rank within it, the true leader of the company was its third partner, James Mitchell Lamson Scovill. Together, the three formed Leavenworth, Hayden & Scovill, the successor to Abel Porter & Company.



I hope this helps!
Neil

 

[Brendan M.]

Re: This Weekend Was "On The Button"

Neil,

Thanks so much for the information. It sounds about right in terms of dating -- the site where I found this button saw a good bit of use during the War of 1812. So if Hayden was making buttons on his own prior to the merger with Scoville, that would've been in the early 1800s. Now I have to go hit this place again!

Again Neil, thanks ever so much.

Cheers and HH,
Brendan

 

[CRUSADER]

Re: This Weekend Was "On The Button"

Nice button Mr B!!! REALLY nice!

Can't seem to find anything on Hayden & Co. although there are hayden and scoville button backmarks. I'm sure someone here will figure it out. My guess is that it was an English hunting jacket button

I would agree, the dog one is a hunts button (sports button), its construction points to a post 1850s date & falls into line with the vast majority of different Hunts Buttons being produced at this time.

 

[Skrimpy]

Re: This Weekend Was "On The Button"

I found one of these "Best Strong" buttons recently. I can't decipher from the emails which button was made by which manufacturer. Which one made the "Best Strong" button? Mine came from a mid-late 1800s mill. Could have been earlier but don't have anything but an 1870s and 1890s map to confirm age.