Help ID'ing a button (or part of one)

I got a new permission last week and hunted it for a few hours yesterday. It has been hunted before and the owner has a button just like the one I found. She is confident that she knows what it is but I'm not. I added this as an edit as I should have provided this info initially. It was found in Knoxville,TN close to the Tennessee River. I don't know who has hunted it previously or how thorough they were but I intend to go over it with a fine toothed comb.

It may be a long shot but does this look familiar to anyone?









Thanks
Chris



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/01/2017 08:11PM by Chris Woods.

Colonial flat button

Nice find.
I'm happy digging flat buttons..... We find a lot of flatties up here in PA. I have a field I hunt I named the 'button field', there were so many pulled out of it......the coins were deeper and out of reach by standard detecting means.

Most of the flat buttons I find have no back marks. They range in size from 5/16" to roughly 1-1/4"+ in diameter....some have designs, most do not.

Thanks for the info guys. It does appear to have some lettering on the back but I can't make it out. The owner of the property is convinced it's Civil War era and Confederate. I have no idea what period it's from. Is there anyway to figure out roughly what era it's from by the style of the loop, material etc?



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/02/2017 01:34PM by Chris Woods.

I think it's a bit earlier than Civil War. Probably 1800-1840's. At least that is the range all of my flat buttons are generally from here in New England. Most Civil War buttons should be two piece buttons

I agree, earlier than Civil War, but I dug a button somewhat like that -- a one-piece (though with an eagle -- definitely military, see pic below) in a site that was not occupied by the military prior to 1850, for sure. I was told at the time that sometimes buttons were used by soldiers from "earlier periods," on newer uniforms -- maybe as replacement buttons? Not sure. In any case, my point is that it may be an older than Civil War button, used during the Civil War?



Steve

It could be I dig up a lot of flat buttons at Rebel camps.

Solid 1830 button.

We call them flat button or coin buttons...

there post colonial period and are solid pre civil war manufacture..

Common finds on pre and up to civil war house sites..and area..

Keith

“I don't care that they stole my idea . . I care that they don't have any of their own”
-Nikola Tesla

I live in the lowcountry of sc and we pop flattys out of civil war camps all the time with no home site ever present supplys got really scarce during the blockade

They also wore buttons with flowers on them around here.flat and two/three piece versions

Great info guys and I really appreciate every bit of it. This button is definitely my oldest find to date and I'm chomping at the bit to get back over there.

I talked to the property owner and got a little more info. It seems that before the first guy hunted the yard, and it's a HUGE yard, no one in the family knew there was any habitation there before 1935.

I was swinging my CTX with the stock coil when I found it and it nearly blew my ears off. There was iron in the hole with it but the button sounded off loud and clear. The weird thing is so far the targets at this site are only about an inch or three deep. I'm not complaining as the ground around here is like concrete right now. It'll be interesting to see what if anything is hiding beneath this upper layer of stuff once I get it cleared out.

Anyway, thanks again for the info and I'll post anything else of interest as I find it.

Chris