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Button Identification Help (very Unusual)


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I found this button a month ago and posted a bunch of photo's with my other finds. I thought it was just another old button, but today I saw some detail in it and started to clean it. After about two hours of cleaning this is what I found. The button has a steel back and a brass front, the back has writing on it that is not legible. I'm hoping GB can help me out with the id. Any button people out there, your help will be appreciated. Mid to late 1800's ? The design is really unique. Stars, snake, infinity symbol, sailing ships, little circles and cattail plant. too fancy to be an average button ( my opinion) Look at it and tell me your thoughts.

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Sure has an Oriental look to it, but that's the extent of my opinion.  You USA East Coast guys have 5 centuries of European influenced history to uncover.  I don't know how much trade there was there with the Far East (West Coast a different story), but sure is tantalizing.  I'm looking forward to reading what others can come up with.  With that patina I'm going to be very surprised if it turns out to be reproduction.

 

 

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Best research I can do is a Religious button. All the symbols kinda line up with that, the little building not so sure. While on the button thing, I remembered that my since passed uncle gave me a few old buttons about 9 years ago. He was a civil war buff with members of his family in it. He also gave me a book set of muster rolls printed shortly after the war. He also gave me a hand full of buttons. Here are the photos, not sure if they are civil war? If anyone knows a button collector that could help me out, that would be great.

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Do I see numbers on the button?

They could be latitude and longitude markings, which would place it near Vietnam area.

I believe I am making out 140 above the building and I am not sure about the other number markings.

It could be any country on that line, and if so as old as it is I would have to guess that a British sailor picked it up while in the area coming back from China.

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On 3/24/2020 at 4:14 PM, dogodog said:

Look at it and tell me your thoughts.

I see the 140 on the last photo of the first group.

I do see images that look like they are from other countries and think that the button is from a era that sailors would make a button that showed their journeys. Should it be what I think it is the images will show a trip to and from the China area back to either England or France. That would explain all the images that are normally found in different countries.

Hope you can find more numbers on the button. Try a rubbing using a piece of paper and a pencil and see if you can make the images come out better.

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That's a Great thought. I'll keep running ideas through google images and see if I can find some like symbols.

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It looks very old based on how crude the die is on it. Good chance it was from a Chinese laborer maybe 1800's? I tried looking up old buttons but anything with the word antique doesn't show anything. Could be word of the year "Vintage" instead.

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I tried them all too. Just when you thought google could answer all your questions.

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Unfortunately it seems all the search engines are using popularity over content and meta tags now. Gone are the days when you typed in a query and ended up with what you wanted instead of some stinking irrelevant ad or topic. Really annoying.

When we are allowed outdoors again I'll ask my neighbor, he's an antique dealer and probably knows.

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