Undated (circa 1889?) Washington Button. The Elder Pattern. Cobb-12b, Albert WI-115 (this button); DeWitt-unlisted; Baker-1006J. Copper, Gilt. Choice Extremely Fine.

33.4 mm. Original shank intact. The obverse is largely copper brown with overtones of soft violet blue-green, while the incused features of the design retain considerable gilding that makes for a visually striking appearance. The gilding is intact along most of the edge of the button, as well as over the entirety of the back, so the impression is that this two-tone obverse presentation was by design. Had it been simple wear that removed the gilding, it would have affected the edge and back, at least near the rims and at the shank to a significant degree. This is presumably named the "Elder" pattern for the floral sprays at the bottom of the design. These, while resembling elder flowers, have seven petals while the elder flower has five. Nonetheless, the shape is indeed similar. According to Michael Hodder's introduction to our offering of the Cobb Collection, this type was first discovered in 1949, in a New Jersey collection, and it was reported in the 2005 reissue of the Cobb reference that three more were in the 1950 Ruth Find, a controversial assortment of buttons first published in May of that year. Albert studied the group and questioned the origin of some specimens after noting that some were on usual hosts, some on planchets cut from a brass plate from one of Chatillon's Improved Balance Milk Scales, dated to 1870. Some hosts were various colonial coins. Cobb eventually became the owner of the Ruth Find buttons and also owned this one, which is featured on his plate. Albert and Cobb were in some disagreement as to the nature of some of the types, which led to their falling out of friendship, but Albert published that "an old-time well-known antiques and coin dealer of Philadelphia…told me that he knew who made these buttons; also that they were produced about the time of the Washington Inaugural Centennial in 1889." As such, the vintage of these has long been a point of uncertainty. Since the time of discovery, others have come to light in varying sizes, with varied numbers of stars and differently styled floral sprays. Several, including this one, are plated by Albert in his section titled "Other Washington Buttons." This one appeared in our offering of the Cobb buttons, and sold for $3,450, not an insignificant sum, but less than a standard linked states brought in the same sale.

From the Sydney F. Martin Collection. Earlier from an unspecific New Jersey Collector, ca. 1949; the J. Harold Cobb Collection; our (Stack's) January 2003 Americana Sale, lot 1348; Lawrence R. Stack Collection, November 2006.