Why get excited about a flat button?

Luv2fishcb · May 4, 2014

Because it is the first one I ever found!!!

I decided to go in the field by my house this morning while it was cool. Hit a new area and this is what I found.

TNGUNS · May 4, 2014

Absolutely love finding them. An awesome way to date a site. When you start finding flat buttons, always the potential for more great stuff. I found a couple last year that gave me a real surprise. As I was cleaning a wonderful thing appeared "JACKSON VICTORY". Appeared to be a normal flat button until I cleaned them up and realized they were political buttons from his 1829 campaign. Have even seen Washington Inaugural buttons show up here. Some hardcore history in surrounding such little things. :laughing7:

Old Dude · May 4, 2014

Congrats to you. Still looking for my first.

Sent from my iPod touch using Tapatalk

HutSiteDigger · May 4, 2014

Flat buttons are fun!

G.A.P.metal · May 4, 2014

love diggin old buttons !
Gary

Ahab8 · May 4, 2014

TNGUNS said:
Absolutely love finding them. An awesome way to date a site. When you start finding flat buttons, always the potential for more great stuff. I found a couple last year that gave me a real surprise. As I was cleaning a wonderful thing appeared "JACKSON VICTORY". Appeared to be a normal flat button until I cleaned them up and realized they were political buttons from his 1829 campaign. Have even seen Washington Inaugural buttons show up here. Some hardcore history in surrounding such little things.

Well said old buddy! They are a great indicator that you may be in the right area. Plus it's fun to find a person item that someone used every day . Buttons and buckles are GREAT

park pirate · May 4, 2014

Nice..

CoilyGirl · May 4, 2014

Congrats on your first flat button!

HomeGuardDan · May 4, 2014

Congrats on your first one! I wish you many many more - I love finding them

beez0404 · May 4, 2014

Never found a flat button but look forward to finding one. Like Ahab said everything you find, no matter what it is, once belonged to someone. Who knows who or what their story was. That's pretty fascinating.

Davers · May 4, 2014

Flat buttons seem to elude me here in N Ga, Found my first Quarter Size one 2 years ago with a nice Bite out of part of it.
Then my second smaller on a couple months ago. [ this time a broken shank] , BUT
Needless to say I was excited.
Davers

TNGUNS · May 4, 2014

Abe and I have had many discussions about some sites in my area. I am hunting an old ghost town (1800-1870) that has yielded tons of flat buttons and some CW relics without a single coin from the period. Just weird. Guess if I were finding the coins I would be fussing about not digging the buttons.... ha ha. :dontknow:

Ahab8 · May 5, 2014

TNGUNS said:
Abe and I have had many discussions about some sites in my area. I am hunting an old ghost town (1800-1870) that has yielded tons of flat buttons and some CW relics without a single coin from the period. Just weird. Guess if I were finding the coins I would be fussing about not digging the buttons.... ha ha.

Whereas I have found 9 old coppers and 3 buttons. Just never know I guess

CASPER-2 · May 5, 2014

I have dug many - but still love digging them
like others have said they help date the site
if found at a new site - tells you there may have been an older site there or fill from an older site brought in -which means
work it different
I hit a lot of pounded areas - so it means others missed them and they may have missed more goodies

Dug · May 5, 2014

Very good responses to a thought provoking post.

I think they are addictive. I dig one, and my only thought is there has to be more around here somewhere. Just as fun is cleaning them up gently and discovering designs or unusual BMs.

Fyrguy86 · May 5, 2014

Nice save! Any button is a good find. Congrats

Luv2fishcb · May 6, 2014

Thanks everyone. I'm pretty new at this (only a couple of months) and I'm learning as I go. I believe this might be one of the oldest items I've found on the property. We have about 40 acres so I have a lot more exploring to do. I find myself hopping around and I need to do a more methodical approach to searching. Since the grass is growing well here in Virginia I decided to hit a place that didn't have grass. This was a big surprise as I've never hit that place before.

BuckleBoy · May 6, 2014

If you're digging those, then you'll be finding great things soon. Hone in on the area where there is a concentration of iron and other items. By the way, you'll want to read my post in the Cleaning and Preservation section on How to Clean Buttons. Along with finding older, rarer, and more valuable items comes the responsibility of being able to identify what you've dug (i.e. not throwing away anything that is valuable or significant in spite of it not looking like much at the time), and also a responsibility to clean and preserve the items properly. If you ever need advice on cleaning an item, PM me. If you are wondering if there's a significant find in a pile of metal you dug, lay it all out and take photos to include with your post. Members on Tnet are excellent at spotting good finds in the junk.

Cheers,

Buck

diggervet · May 6, 2014

Check em all! we were hunting a spot in cold harbor and were going to give a few items to the property owner when my son noticed an eagle and a cannon. Turned out to be an 1840s militia button. Congratulations and hope you find many more!

Luv2fishcb · May 14, 2014

diggervet said:
Check em all! we were hunting a spot in cold harbor and were going to give a few items to the property owner when my son noticed an eagle and a cannon. Turned out to be an 1840s militia button. Congratulations and hope you find many more!

Thank you. I read your post and it was most informative. I'll be trying it this weekend.

Steve