Diggings clothings buttons

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'Ello all! Finally got a cable to upload a couple of photos. Here are some finds on the field my mate found, and was wondering if anyone can give me some information on them, and do they have a value?

I think the top left two have "patened" written on them at the bottom of the button, the top right contains "hyme & co", the bottom left is rusted steel, a 'puffed' look to it, middle bottom is small like a cufflink button, bottom right plain but a "H" on the back.

1410266895_buttons.jpg
 
Hang in there one of the moderators who is a button
Expert will chime in shortly. This is what detecting is
About unearthing lost history. Just imagine the last
Person to touch one of those more than 150 years
Ago.
 
Info on buttons from the goldfields is very hard to find. There are some old historical 'clothing' essays floating about from the 1980s (they did one on old clay pipes as well). There are some general references in a few gold hunting and relic books (Ken Arnolds and Doug Stones books). There is a UK historical button website that is good - if you live in UK. No collections have ever turned up at any auction houses I can recall (there are some dealers who specialise in goldfield relic sales)

Yes, there are people who collect them as an aside to prospecting as they turn up all the time and can be interesting. As to value? I have no idea. Even the relic hunting forums have very little posted. Belt buckles are the same, no 'list' as such, but they can attract good $, especially sports related belt buckles from the goldfields - cricket and the like. Several Vic country Vic museums have collections of interest but usually on show as 'things'. I too would be interested, I especially like the ones with the place of manufacture - I have several that are from tailors in Maryborough Vic.
 
G'Day atom, I just looked at my first button found about a week ago and it has Hyam & Co Oxford St on it. Looks identical to yours on the top right in pic. If you type it into google there is a bit of info on them. Hope that helps.
Cheers,
Billy.
 
Thanks for the info guys. I see! A rather difficult one then, I did not know that at all :) I'll take a look into it further and see what I can find here and there. I have read that clothing restorers can want these buttons and would pay a decent price for some? I have seen the cricket buckles in a book I have, along with gold sovereigns and so, they all look awesome!

Yep, that's correct Billy, Hyam & Co Oxford is what it says indeed! I've done a little search on google, but still have not been able to place a value on them.
 
Simple 4 hole button like these found on the goldfields are not worth a lot of money although i still believe them to be undervalued there are a lot of them being found a member of another forum is writing a book on these buttons as we speak and should be available soon
The biggest collectors are of military buttons and these can be worth up to 100 dollars each then followed by livery buttons which there are hundreds of varieties but the sporting theme seems to hold most of value
Button books are also hard to get and can be up to a thousand dollars to buy if you can find them
Buttons that dont have a makers mark on them are very hard to identify so always quote what is written on the back as this helps identification

The most valuable of the 4 holers are from local country towns as each tailor had them made for his or her shop then there are generic buttons like (my own make) and also english makers
This may be of some help
https://sites.google.com/site/liverybuttonsidentified/
 
the duck said:
Simple 4 hole button like these found on the goldfields are not worth a lot of money although i still believe them to be undervalued there are a lot of them being found a member of another forum is writing a book on these buttons as we speak and should be available soon
The biggest collectors are of military buttons and these can be worth up to 100 dollars each then followed by livery buttons which there are hundreds of varieties but the sporting theme seems to hold most of value
Button books are also hard to get and can be up to a thousand dollars to buy if you can find them
Buttons that dont have a makers mark on them are very hard to identify so always quote what is written on the back as this helps identification

The most valuable of the 4 holers are from local country towns as each tailor had them made for his or her shop then there are generic buttons like (my own make) and also english makers
This may be of some help
https://sites.google.com/site/liverybuttonsidentified/

Thanks heaps for all the useful info duck! I'll check out the sites and keep my eyes open for any more information. We seem to find quite a few of them in the areas my mate has taken me, nearly 5 a day. Most of them just the 4 hole button though. Cheers again for your time :) I have seen a letter "H" imprinted onto the back of some of them, but it probably means something else
 
Good info - still mainly links to the UK. The book sounds good. I would have thought some-one like Ken Arnold would have written one by now. I have his:

Locating Treasure: Locating and digging antique bottles, prospecting and detecting for gold. Has some button pictures.
Australian Tools - ID and guide.
Agricultural Relics - ID and guide.
Farmyard Relics -info guide.
Garagenalia - tins, signs, bottles etc

but no booklet on buttons. If you can get any of Ken's booklets they are not too bad.
 
I found a clothing button . Written on it says *98 *HYAM & CO *OXFORD ST BRASS JUST FIND THEM INTERESTING BUT PROBABLY not worth anything . Unsure of the age of the button except it has 98 on it but not in years
 
I think buttons are more interesting in the historical context vs having any real monetary value - they are still a great collectible. :D
 
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