✅ SOLVED Who knows their buttons

[Giant056]

I found this cast button today and I think it's an oldie but don't recall seeing one like it before.

 

[bill from lachine]

Giant,

Great looking button and lots of gilt left....hopefully one of the pros can id it for you.

Regards + HH

Bill

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Your button is a Livery button, showing the motto and "Family Crest" of the Ramsey family in Britain. Ramsay Surname Meaning, Ramsay Name History, Ramsay Crests, Coat of Arms & Genealogy : MyFamilySilver.com

The backmark saying "Firmin & Sons / 153 Strand / London / 13 Conduit St" being on a brass 1-piece (not hollow) button dates it to being from 1823 through the 1830s.

 

[Giant056]

Your button is a Livery button, showing the motto and "Family Crest" of the Ramsey family in Britain. Ramsay Surname Meaning, Ramsay Name History, Ramsay Crests, Coat of Arms & Genealogy : MyFamilySilver.com

Your 1-piece brass button with backmark saying "Firmin & Sons / 153 Strand / London / 13 Conduit St" dates it to being from 1823 through the 1830s.

Thanks a lot, that does make it an old button indeed, I wonder what it is doing in Michigan

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

The most likely answer is that the wealthy Ramsey family's butler (or doorman, or carriage-driver) quit his job in Britain and immigrated to what he hoped would be a better life for him and his family in America. Apparently, he brought his Livery uniform with him. There was a LOT of immigration from the British Isles to America in the 1840s/50s.