A days detetecting with Rob, Ray and Geoff 3Oth May 2O1O

[handyman [Alan}]

wow - well done everyone. a superb write up.

yes neil, it defintily looks like a fibula fragment.

what a superb range of finds, probably covering 2000 years.

great day out lads --- well done to you all.

cheers

[150aceboy]

Great finds boys, well done to you all
Ace 

[waltonbasinman]

Well done all and what a great selection of finds. Nice brooches Rob and the 3D figure as Peter says is so hard to date. Best guess 100 - 300 AD but a cracking find. Show it to Mark Lodwick if I was You. Love the Templar Button as well. Well done all on a successful day.

[PHIL YNYSBOETH]

Well done Rob and the boys  !

[Chef Geoff]

Well I have spent a couple of hours on the net reading about the history of the button (sad or what?). The button I found is full of contradictions, firstly I thought as it was a button it must be modern but have now found that buttons of ornamental use have been around since the Bronze age, Functional buttons appeared around 1200 as a result of the idea being brought back from the crusades, Wow! I thought, that would fit perfectly. But mine still has twine attached so once again I thought modern, strangely though 2 other buttons I found yesterday also still had the thread intact as did one that Neil found so the soil must be slightly kind to fibres and apparently many clothes fasteners found during the Yorvik digs at York also still had the cotton thread attached. But my example has some sort of writing on the back, makers mark? maybe.... but some old buttons especially those worn by retainers had a motto on the back. it may show some signs of silver dipping or tinning but there again this seems to have gone on from the Roman times. So after all of that I'm none the wiser.

[waltonbasinman]

Well Chef regardless of all that effort it is still a great find. I would be over the moon with it. Well done Sir.

[handyman [Alan}]

gordon bailey 'buttons and fasteners'  500bc to 1840ad, states

"no buttons have been recovered from archaeological sites witha  purely 11th century context. but this doesn't mean that buttons were not used!"
 
from the above photos, the structure of the button suggest medieval 13th to 15th century - common feature from the photos in his book is a large button shank.

late 15th /16th century buttons have a convex dome to them, more akin to the usual types of that period that we find.

some of the buttons from this period are identical in design to those made from precious metal. when gilded their appearance would have rivalled the more expensive counterparts.

hope this helps

cheers & well done on an intriguing find.

alan

[Chef Geoff]

Thanks Alan, yes that helps, I will show it to the FLO then just in case.

[handyman [Alan}]

yes, it's most definitely a FLO job. 

[The Doc]

An interesting find Geoff. i would say it's 17th century at the earliest and could be as late as 19th.

[Chef Geoff]

Yes that was my feeling Peter, 19th century, I would love to know whether it could be from a priests vestments, but it does seem a little to small to be of  practical use.

[beachboy (viv)]

another great report neil,congratulations to you all on a good day out with some really good finds well done.viv