Help with button ID

J

jimmyk

Established Users
Hi All:

Dug this thin brass unmarked brass four hole button today. This is the first of its kind I've dug. Is this an underwear button or suspender button? The area of the four holes is recessed. Hard to see that with the scan. Thanks for your help.

keep on diggin'

jimmyk in Missouri
 

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According to all the relic-reference books, this type was for shirts and long-underwear. The problem is, this type was used before, during, and LONG after the civil war. However, they are generally accepted as being a civil war relic, unless a particular one has postwar manufacturer's-marking on it.

Regards,
Pete [PCGeorge]
 
Thanks, Pete. This area has very little modern junk. The color looks like other period brass I've dug, so I guess I'll consider it Civil War.

Keep on diggin'

jimmyk in Missouri
 
Neat button Jimmy, I've always took it for granted these style of buttons were long-underwear buttons. I have found several myself in campsites but mine seem to be made of pewter or something, not brass. If someone can shed a little more light on the "make" and "period" of this style button, it would be greatly appreciated.
 

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I've never had the luck to dig a pewter underwear button. Nice find, KC.

Keep on diggin'

jimmyk in Missouri
 
jimmyk said:
I've never had the luck to dig a pewter underwear button. Nice find, KC.

Keep on diggin'

jimmyk in Missouri
Click to expand...

Hi Jimmyk, I have had the privillege of hunting in several early sites dating from the revolutionary war to the civil war and have found the pewter underware buttons mostly dating from late 1700's to around 1820 when they began using mostly brass for these. For a general guide on the dates of early flat type buttons see Artifacts of Colonial America, by Ivor N Hume, page 91, where he gives a copy Stanley South's chart on early buttons.
AXIT1
 
Nice find on your button. I also have never dug a pewter button but many of those 4 hole buttons. Only one ever had wrighting on the back and to that only a few letters are visible. They are neat to find, Scott
 
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