When metal-detecting in New England, one item there are plenty of is buttons. Because clothing was not as well made in the past, the stitching was less than perfect and buttons were falling to the ground.
Over the years, dust and leaves add layers to the earth covering up what we love to find.
One early winter day this past January, before all the snow inundated us, my wife and I metal-detected a location that has resulted in good finds in the past. It was a sunny 40-degree day and she was using her Garrett AT Pro and I, my AT Gold. Although the ground was somewhat frozen, we managed to dig and save some awesome relics.
One such item caught our eye after removing it from the ground. It was a large, old, round brass artifact, the size of a half-dollar, called a Dandy Button. Many times when we uncover this item, its often mistaken for a coin because of its size and weathered appearance. But the dead giveaway is one side will have a spot where the hook to tie the thread is missing or still intact. We call that item a “shank.”
On this button it was missing, broken off by time. However, the obverse is usually an ornate pattern of some sort, or military. In our case, it had edged lines with a sunflower-type image in the center dating back to the 1700s. After discovering the object as a Dandy Button, most metal detectorist will clean it gently because there are some rare valuable buttons relating to our country’s first president, George Washington. Those Dandy Buttons are his Inaugural that come in different designs and, depending on the condition, can fetch well over $8,000! Although we have yet to find one, for a cold day in January, it’s always nice to find and save colonial relics! This button sat frozen in time over 8 inches deep in the earth and now is on display in our cabinet. History saved to educate the next generation!
Most buttons that are recovered metal-detecting in New England are metal and come in many shapes and sizes. Some of us recover much earlier buttons made of pewter, but most of those are very worn and brittle.
Dandy Buttons were brass or copper, mostly worn on men’s overcoats. Some buttons even contained gold or silver gilding and were considered a jewel or stylish item. These large buttons were manufactured in England and associated with the “dandy” high-fashion style era of the early 1700s. They were predominantly worn by wealthy individuals from the American Colonies and Britain.
Colonial-era “dandy” buttons recovered by a detectorist can value between $20 and $100. Like many items recovered from the ground, condition and composition are the ingredients in determining value. Our dandy recovery is still legible to see the design, but lacks a shank and has no gold or silver visible. But it is not unreadable and contains minimal corrosion, placing its value around $35. If it had its shank, the value would have been closer to $50.
The infamous George Washington Dandy Buttons were a copper alloy and created in the United States. They are valuable due to that fact and because so few were manufactured. It is the prize Dandy Button every metal detectorist talks about and hopes to find some day.
Methuen father/son treasure hunters Steve and Jonathan Stewart were the August 2019 MethuenLife cover story. They run YouTube, Facebook and Instagram accounts called Mass Metal Detecting and have followers around the globe. They love to save history and enjoy talking about it. If you’d like to invite them to your property for a hunt, you may be included in a future article! Please drop them a note via MethuenLife@msn.com.
