A Button Kind Of Day

[Geologyhound]

I went out and found the property corner pins for a relative and had some time left over.  I have hunted a nearby fallow agricultural field before but found pretty much nothing.  Of course, it was mostly waist-high at the time.  Since the field was just mowed for hay, I took another shot at it.  It was still almost entirely devoid of signals while I was scouting around.  More golf balls than anything else…. But, off to one corner I started picking up some iron tones in a small area.  Since I was not finding much else out of here, I slowed down and started to cover the area a little more closely.

Within a couple minutes I turned up an old flat button.  That got me interested and also got a red tailed hawk rather interested in me. He (she?) perched up in a nearby tree and screeched at me.  The hawk kept an eye on me and I kept an eye on it.  I also kept an eye out for the coyote I saw a little earlier. Sorry I didn’t get pictures of either.

My next line through the area picked up another flat button as did the next.  Then I picked up what I’m pretty sure is most of a Tombac button.  If so, that would be my first!  When things started petering off, I went back over the area at a 90° angle and picked up three more buttons.  Ever notice how it’s a little easier to keep track of where you’ve been when you follow the mow lines?

By the time I was done, I had what appeared to be seven flat buttons (six brass or bronze, one I’m not sure).  That’s more flat buttons in one day than I have found the entire time I’ve been detecting.  All of them have a brass eye with no foot (1785 to 1800?). There is a smaller button with relief on the front (it also has a brass eye and no foot), a little over a half of what I think is a Tombac, two possible bag seals (one of which has something like a Spanish cross on the front, the other one is taco’d), the bowl of what I believe is a pewter spoon, a shotgun shell head, a fragment of a bullet, what appears to be too small bore musket balls (grapeshot?), and four other somewhat circular items which may be other buttons.  However, these are corroding differently than brass and do not appear to have any shank.

Most of these buttons were ringing up in the pulltab range (low 60s to low 80s on the D2).  I did find two modern pulltabs, and off to the side and downhill a bit I found a couple modern can tops and pieces.

I am letting the buttons dry out for a couple days before I try to clean them up more. I will post more pictures back  when I have them cleaned up some more.

Not sure what the big iron thing is. Some farm implement I guess. Perhaps some sort of wagon tow hitch?  The ring is not truly circular in three dimensions. It has four up humps and four down humps to make the circle – if that makes sense.

I kept hoping for a coin. As old as these buttons are, any a coin would have shattered my age record. But alas it was not to be.  Oh well, there’s always later (hopefully), right?

[Valens Legacy]

Nice hunt!

Good luck on your next outing.

[F350Platinum]

Nice to see a successful relic hunt in the summer, I miss it 🥲. That Tombac does really date your finds as old, Tombacs can go into the low 40s on the D2. 👍

I'm guessing a very old hunting spot, maybe a temporary camp. It could be where a shady spot was that a farmer took breaks and fixed gear.  There might be some buckle fragments around as well. Sweat the small stuff, and be mindful of chiggers. I still have a healing bite from my last hunts in May. Of course it looks like bugs may not be the only problem 😏

Great work! A little lemon juice can work wonders on the brass buttons.

 

[MD4V.org]

WoW! Super site and and finds! Best of luck there on future hunts!!

[JCR]

That’s some nice old there.

[PI-Man]

Awesome!  I love finding buttons.  Can’t wait till I get back up to the fields instead of the sand holes chasing targets.

[Geologyhound]

On 7/6/2024 at 5:28 AM, F350Platinum said:

Nice to see a successful relic hunt in the summer, I miss it 🥲. That Tombac does really date your finds as old, Tombacs can go into the low 40s on the D2. 👍

I'm guessing a very old hunting spot, maybe a temporary camp. It could be where a shady spot was that a farmer took breaks and fixed gear.  There might be some buckle fragments around as well. Sweat the small stuff, and be mindful of chiggers. I still have a healing bite from my last hunts in May. Of course it looks like bugs may not be the only problem 😏

Great work! A little lemon juice can work wonders on the brass buttons.

 

How do you clean them with lemon juice?  I left them to dry for a couple days before trying to gently clean them with some Andre’s crayons.  But that powder corrosion on the surface is very soft and can brush off easily and can take detail with it.

[Geologyhound]

After a little cleaning, I was able to make out some detail on most of the flat buttons.  One of the smaller buttons appears to be pewter instead of copper alloy or brass.  Please see attached pictures for sketches of the backs and approximate date range as per a chart I found in a Digital Archaeological Archive for Comparative Slavery (DAACS) catalog guide which referenced back to Hinks 1988 and Hughes and Lester 1981.  So, if I have properly classified the buttons, they all date from the late 1700s to early 1800s.  Any help from anyone who might be able to further identify the manufacturer and date would be greatly appreciated!
 

Someone on another website said the cross disc could be a 1600’s to 1700’s token.  If so, that would be the oldest thing I have found!  Now to see if I can confirm that somehow…

[F350Platinum]

3 hours ago, Geologyhound said:

How do you clean them with lemon juice?  I left them to dry for a couple days before trying to gently clean them with some Andre’s crayons.  But that powder corrosion on the surface is very soft and can brush off easily and can take detail with it.

I usually reserve that for buttons that have a hint of gold on them, you use a q-tip dipped in the pure stuff and rub it a bit, then rinse it off. It's a tiny bit of acid that brightens them up, sometimes with shocking results. Since the backmarks are stamped rather than relief, it should make them stand out a bit rather than rubbing them off.

I learned that here. 🙂

Wish I could help you on your token, that's a great piece of lead.