Old buttons: how to identify and date metal detecting finds

Buttons are among the most common finds in any old pasture. Most are worn copper alloy, and most get tossed in the finds pot. But a button can often be dated to within a few decades if you know what to check.

Check three things, in this order: construction, shank, backmark.

1. Construction

A study of about 1,500 buttons from American colonial sites (1725 to the American Revolution) found English brass workers used three main methods:

• Flat cast. Molten brass poured into a sand mould, then filed or lathed. The simplest to make. Solid and flat, and may show file or lathe marks.
• Two-piece. The front and back cast separately and soldered together. The only hollow type of the three, with a rounder profile.
• Crimped. A disc of thin hammered brass crimped over a wood, bone or horn backing.

Later, machine-stamping changed everything. A Dutch reference based on Hughes and Lester’s The Big Book of Buttons puts stamped two-piece buttons from about 1820. Over the 19th century, cheap, mass-produced two-piece buttons steadily pushed the flat button out.

2. Shank

How the button attaches is a clue, though not a date on its own. The Dutch reference ties flat one-piece buttons with a soldered loop to the period before about 1830, when they went out of production.

Sew-through buttons with holes and no shank need other clues, such as material and size. We don’t date them from the holes alone.

3. Backmark

In the second half of the 18th century, makers began to brand their buttons. They stamped the backs with their names and often their addresses. Because company names and addresses appear in trade directories, a readable backmark can narrow the date a lot.

The UK Detector Finds Database keeps a free list of British makers and their backmarks. A few examples from it:

UKDFD warns that its dates are approximate, that secondary sources sometimes disagree, and that a confirmed backmark doesn’t confirm the dates. Treat a backmark as a range, not a year.

Quality marks: “Treble Gilt” and friends

Plenty of buttons have no maker’s name, just a boast. Hughes and Lester say these marks started to appear around 1795. They describe the gilding (gold) or plating (silver):

• Gilt, Double Gilt, Treble Gilt. How many times it was gilded.
• Orange Colour, Rich Orange. The colour of the gilding.
• Standard, Extra, Fine, Superior, Superfine. A rough British quality scale, best to worst. “STANDd” is a common shortening.
• Plated, Treble Plated. Silvered.

On flat one-piece buttons with a soldered loop, these marks were used until those buttons went out of production, around 1830. On two-piece stamped buttons they carried on to about 1850. After that, makers mostly used their own name or just a quality mark.

Flat brass buttons with sunken lettering (the metal around the letters cut away) are thought to be the oldest of the group, from about 1790–1795.

The spelling can hint at origin. “Colour” and “warranted” are British. “Color” and “guaranteed” suggest American, where gilding started around 1810.

Clean gently

Backs were often polished less than the fronts, so traces of gilding can survive. A black button can become readable with gentle cleaning. Don’t scrub with anything abrasive until you’ve read and photographed the mark.

Military and livery buttons

Regimental and naval buttons have their own dating rules, from the cipher and crown on the front. See our guide to military buttons. Other common finds nearby: buckles, thimbles and lead tokens.

FAQ

How do I date an old button?

Start with construction: is it one flat piece or a hollow two-piece? Then the shank: cast in, soldered wire loop, or part of a back plate. Then the backmark. A maker's name and address can be matched to trade directory dates, which the UK Detector Finds Database lists for British makers.

What does 'Treble Gilt' on a button mean?

It's a quality mark, not a maker. Marks like Treble Gilt, Double Gilt, Orange Colour and Standard were stamped on gilt buttons from about 1795. On flat one-piece buttons they ran until about 1830, and on two-piece buttons until about 1850.

Are old buttons worth recording?

Most post-1700 buttons aren't required by the PAS, but it depends on your Finds Liaison Officer and the area. A maker's name, a regimental design or an unusual type can be useful to record. Ask your FLO.

Where can I look up a button maker?

The UK Detector Finds Database has a free list of British button makers and backmarks, from the earliest recorded to about the mid-20th century, with dates from trade directories and the buttons themselves.

Sources

Every figure in this guide comes from one of these. We checked each one on 1 November 2026.

1. UK Detector Finds Database, “Button makers and their backmarks” (A–F, G–M, N–Z). www.ukdfd.co.uk/pages/button-makers.html
2. Metaaldetecteren.nl, “Gilt en plated (ca 1795–1850)”, citing Hughes & Lester, The Big Book of Buttons (1981). www.metaaldetecteren.nl/knopen-gilt-en-plated/
3. Tennessee Council for Professional Archaeology, “Re-analyzing copper-alloy buttons from the Overhill Cherokee towns” (2018). tennesseearchaeologycouncil.wordpress.com/2018/09/30/re-analyzing-copper-alloy-buttons-from-the-overhill-cherokee-towns/
4. Portable Antiquities Scheme, Code of Practice for Responsible Metal Detecting. finds.org.uk/guides/detecting-guidance/code-of-practice-for-responsible-metal-detecting