Button front?

[Geologyhound]

Found this today in a short afternoon hunt. There is a crown in the top half and it says London in the bottom half. With a magnifying glass I can see small letters along the top near the rim that say “DOUBLE GILT“. The back is blank. That makes me think it’s the front of a button. But I have no idea from what or how old. I also don’t know what the pock mark in the middle on the front means. Any ideas?

Thank you very much!

 

[thepest]

Wow... It looks like some of these double gilt buttons had gold in them... I like the gear also.... Gears are always a cool find...

Do I Have a Double Gilt Button? (Is it Valuable?) - Metal Detecting Tips

As times changed, so did the material buttons were made from. During the 1800s, gilded buttons were commonly used as a sign of importance or wealth. Some of

metaldetectingtips.com

 

[fyrffytr1]

I think it is a one piece flat button. It looks to be too thick for a two piece back. The pock mark is actually where the shank was attached. It is the back of the button. The front is plain. This is one of mine. Your button dates from about 1810-1840.

 

[Geologyhound]

That would make it one of the oldest things I have found! Also, a bit unexpected. This is the first time I stopped at this park. The 1898 topo shows nothing but residences in the vicinity. Since it is a park, I am only using a trowel. I kept digging down 12-14 inches chasing eighties to low 90s with my D2. Those all ended with a hard pack gravel layer and a big chunk of pop can. So I figured the whole area had been dozed and I wasn’t going to find anything old.

This was a solid 81 to 82 (D2 modified fast) and was only about 4 inches down. I couldn’t tell what it was when I found it, and figured it must be new because it was so much shallower than the gravel layer and recent can slaw. But, as with all unknowns it went into my good pouch. It wasn’t until I got home and started cleaning it up that I had an inkling as to what it might be. So I guess it must’ve been luck of the draw with how the dozers re-distributed the old soil profile when they made the park.

 

[thepest]

Your button clearly shows the word London around the shank... Encircled by a rope pattern (maritime?)... There's a chafe of wheat running up around the right side of the outer edge... I can't tell if it's going up the left side or not... I found a link in my bookmarks to The Treasure Net forum... https://www.treasurenet.com/threads/flat-button-id-help.437833/ one of the responses is from a user "TheCannonballGuy"... He gave a short but interesting breakdown... about buttons from the UK being made here in the American Colonies... Might help with the ID.... blows my mind... We made the buttons for the enemy solders uniforms... who then attacked us... you can't make this up... It would be kinda wild if that came off a "Red Coat" during the Revolutionary War...

 

[Ronstar]

The interesting stuff we recover , nice find!

 

[Geologyhound]

Your button clearly shows the word London around the shank... Encircled by a rope pattern (maritime?)... There's a chafe of wheat running up around the right side of the outer edge... I can't tell if it's going up the left side or not... I found a link in my bookmarks to The Treasure Net forum... https://www.treasurenet.com/threads/flat-button-id-help.437833/ one of the responses is from a user "TheCannonballGuy"...

I hadn’t thought of the dot pattern being a rope. I also didn’t recognize the lower edge pattern as wheat. I thought it was some sort of en echelon overlapping pattern. But, as I look at it again under a magnifying glass, there are very definitely wheat ears (pointed ovals) running up the left side just like the right side of your picture, and strands (stocks of wheat) running up the right side similar to the left side of your button. There is also a bow shape in the bottom middle just like yours.

Now if only I could figure out the maker...

Thanks!