Wow! Never Seen a flat button like this!

coinman123 · Dec 19, 2015

I found this nice dandy button today in the mud on the edge of a stream at a colonial site. I have never seen one with this much gilt surviving, looks like nearly 100%. My friend who was metal detecting with me is convinced it is a gold alloy of a small amount of gold and a large amount of copper, though I'm not convinced just yet, I have never heard of gold dandy buttons

. It came out of the ground nice, though there was some old dirt crusted on the back and some of the front, which came of with a toothbrush (which I told my friend NOT to use!) and some lemon juice. It has a nice gold color with a weird pink color spotted throughout, most likely caused by the copper underneath, though my friend says that it is caused by the alloy

. Anyways, I'm impressed by the condition of this colonial dandy button, the edge is even 100% gold with no flaking anywhere. The mud must preserve the stuff good.

Here's my typical dandy button

Trezurehunter · Dec 19, 2015

Very nice. I like the old buttons.

coinman123 · Dec 19, 2015

Brian C. · Dec 19, 2015

Look under dandy buttons, you might yours there.

villagenut · Dec 19, 2015

I like "Big Buttons and I cannot lie"....anyways...cool looking design you got there.

coinman123 · Dec 20, 2015

My friend made me do an unnoticeable scratch with a tiny pin, I did it where there was already a scratch on the back for some other reason, still the same gold color underneath, you can't that it was scratched. The button still seems like gilt to me though, just curious if there is a chance that they ever made button of a low gold content, though I doubt that is what it is.

testing123 · Dec 20, 2015

Nice button! Keep in mind that the mud acts like a mild abrasive or maybe its the lack of oxygen but I've seen copper and brass that's 200+ years old come out shiny in muddy environments. That's my bet on this one. Might not be gold but its has a nice design.

coinman123 · Dec 20, 2015

testing123 said:
Nice button! Keep in mind that the mud acts like a mild abrasive or maybe its the lack of oxygen but I've seen copper and brass that's 200+ years old come out shiny in muddy environments. That's my bet on this one. Might not be gold but its has a nice design.

That was my first though when I found it. In normal circumstances the oxygen would react with metal to make it look more toasted and flaky. The way that the surface is all grainy and obscured also provided to the argument that the mud caused some abrasion to it. The "gilt" may be the brass. I think that gold would be way smoother and would have less dirt attached.