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View Full Version : Morning hunt, button help?


Digger_O'Dell
03-09-2017, 08:17 PM
Hi all,
Got out for about an hour after work to the field that I found many early IHs and the crotal. A first for me was the old horse shoe as a surface find. Another first was an old toasty cast one piece button. The shank is broken and it looks like it tangled with the plow. Very faint in the middle resembles a shield, but I'm not sure. The soil wasn't very kind to it. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

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OxShoeDrew
03-09-2017, 08:32 PM
I don't have good enough eyes to help with the button but the shoe looks like a mule shoe. How big is that button? Crotals are special! How big was it? :drool:
Digger_O'Dell
03-09-2017, 08:40 PM
The button is .750 or 19mm.

The shoe in only 5 inches across, 6 inches long.

The crotal is small, only about 1 inch. I also pulled a musket ball from this field this spring.
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del
03-09-2017, 09:15 PM
Its hard to tell but what do you think the button is made of ? Brass , lead , pewter or something else ?
Digger_O'Dell
03-09-2017, 09:41 PM
Pretty sure it's pewter, but it rang up a 12-14. Thought it was a nickel until I dug it. The broken edge it white like old lead, but the spots of rust bubbling up throws me.
Digger_O'Dell
03-09-2017, 10:15 PM
I was trying to do a little research myself on this button and read that CW troops often lacking in supplies would sometimes make their own field cast buttons out of whatever was available. The couple examples I saw looked a lot like the one I have. Possible? IDK
del
03-09-2017, 10:24 PM
I was trying to do a little research myself on this button and read that CW troops often lacking in supplies would sometimes make their own field cast buttons out of whatever was available. The couple examples I saw looked a lot like the one I have. Possible? IDK

It is possible its "home-made" cast button if it seems heavy for its size then it is probably pewter or lead .
Digger_O'Dell
03-09-2017, 10:49 PM
It's pretty heavy and slightly magnetic. It looks like it may be pewter cast over a thin metal back. Very odd...
MangoAve
03-10-2017, 12:08 PM
Idk. 19mm is slightly larger than a dime. To me the front looks like it has 4 nubs. I could def see it be pewter and the first pewter button I pulled was half eaten away that I could only tell it was a button cuz it surprisingly had the shank. I don't think I have found a horse shoe as a surface find, but they are sure screamers in the ground.