Pilgrim buttons ?

[itsinthebarn]

My mother was an antique collector since the 50's and among the multitude of items she collected were buttons. She told me that she had some buttons from the Pilgrims in her collection but that was many years ago, now I wonder if the large pewter looking buttons with the thick primitive shanks are truly colonial. Any ideas as to how to determine if her earlier claim was accurate?

[svengali]

People tend to claim all kinds of things about the buttons in their collections. I couldn't really give any assessment of the buttons you mention without seeing a view of the front and back. Certainly there were pewter buttons made and used very early in our history and some are 18th century but more often they used mother of pearl and bone buttons for everyday use. The men wore the fancy buttons back then and copper was the common metal for decorative buttons in the 18th century. If you'd like to show images, it's easy to do right here in this forum. You can either include a URL in your post or click on "photo albums" on the upper left to upload your images to the photo album there. I do have to approve any images suggested for posting but it just takes a second once I notice there are some waiting for approval.