Tiny button - any information?

brianc053

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Hi everyone! At the end of the day today I visited "the farm" I've referenced in other threads, and found something new: a tiny button that appears to be a two-piece that has some embossing on the front. Under the dirt on the front I see glints of gold with my eye through a magnifying glass.

Can any of you button experts share some information on this type of button please? This is the first time I've ever found one like this.

I also found another "normal" 19th century button and that awesome 1860 Indian Head Cent.

Thanks for looking!

Brian

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(sorry for any distortion - I took this through a magnifying glass)
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Upvote 8
Congrats on the nice finds, especially that fatty IH penny - that sure is an oldie.. Hope someone can help with the button.
 

I have found a few of this kind of button. It is a civilian pattern, and the general time frame 1840-1870. All the ones I have found were in Civil War camps, and those would have been used as cuff buttons. Nice find, we don't get many of them.
 

I have found a few of this kind of button. It is a civilian pattern, and the general time frame 1840-1870. All the ones I have found were in Civil War camps, and those would have been used as cuff buttons. Nice find, we don't get many of them.
agreed civvy circa 1850s
 

Given the size of it, I believe it is a waistcoat button. They usually measure about 13mm in diameter.
 

Most likely a cuff button, perhaps from a ladies dress due to the ornate design, definitely mid to later 1800's. Great Finds
 

The standard size for cuff buttons was 5/8 (15 mm)
 

Thank you everyone for the information! The farm owner will love this (his daughter loves these buttons), and I'll do some more reading on waistcoat and cuff buttons from the mid-19th century.
And I'll keep hunting the farm - it keeps producing!
(but this part of the field is a pumpkin patch, and the pumpkin vines have taken over. I put the 6" coil on my Equinox to make it easier to detect in amongst the vines.)
Brian
 

Yes, keep looking. Its amazing what we all miss on a site the first few times on it.
 

Yes, keep looking. Its amazing what we all miss on a site the first few times on it.

Exactly Smokey. Those buttons and the 1860 IHP were found in the same areas (30x30' square area) that I've found my other coins/buttons this summer. But I used the 6" coil (instead of the standard 11") and used a different mode (I was actually using Park 1 earlier in the year; now I'm trying Field 2).

What I'm really looking forward to is when this farmer turns over the field again with his plow. I suspect this will turn up a whole new "crop" of targets!
Since this gentleman and his extended family love what I'm finding, I suspect he'll bring the plow out as soon as the pumpkin season is over, to give me one more shot at finding things before winter sets in. (Around here I can probably detect into November, but December is usually when the snow/freeze makes it difficult/impossible.)

- Brian
 

Exactly Smokey. Those buttons and the 1860 IHP were found in the same areas (30x30' square area) that I've found my other coins/buttons this summer. But I used the 6" coil (instead of the standard 11") and used a different mode (I was actually using Park 1 earlier in the year; now I'm trying Field 2).

What I'm really looking forward to is when this farmer turns over the field again with his plow. I suspect this will turn up a whole new "crop" of targets!
Since this gentleman and his extended family love what I'm finding, I suspect he'll bring the plow out as soon as the pumpkin season is over, to give me one more shot at finding things before winter sets in. (Around here I can probably detect into November, but December is usually when the snow/freeze makes it difficult/impossible.)

- Brian
Yes we all like the plough. Without I would have next to nothing.
The fields I do best on have been ploughed fields for 2000 years.
 

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Congrats on the nice relics and cool IH cent! :occasion14:
 

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