My First Button came with an Identical Twin

Shakakka

Junior Member
Joined
Dec 27, 2015
Messages
62
Location
Long Island, NY
Been detecting a few years now, some beach, some land. Never have I found a button.

Until today!

Feast your eyes on what I've been told is a NY Militia Button circa 1800-1820 (and I'm open to any other identifications by you button experts out there):

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But wait! There's more!

Because five minutes later, about three feet away, I find another identical button:

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Okay, now here's where you guys (and girls) give me cleaning advice. I ran the button on the right under warm water with a tiny bit of Softsoap. Just so I could see what the back says (TREBLE GILT ORANGE).

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I didn't clean the other one at all.

Sooooo... what's the best method? I don't want to screw them up at all, but I kinda do want the dirt off them. Maybe not all the dirt, but enough to show the details.

Damn, I suddenly love buttons.
 
I was told to use lemon juice to clean them. It was actually pretty easy. I went slow with a Q-tip but I probably could've soaked them.

Once they were cleaned I rinsed them in water to get any residual acids off the surface.

It's crazy. 200+ years in the ground and they shined up so well I can actually see myself in the mirrored surface.
 
Holy smokes, those are STELLAR buttons! Quite a first! Good to know about the lemon juice as well which is much less toxic than the naval jelly I usually use to clean old gilt buttons...
 
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