Hello all,

I'm gonna make this short and sweet. This is a button. I found it 3' in the ground. It is porcelain. It is OLD. What did it come off of and what does A507 mean?

Thank you.
- Chris B.

Bump. Can anyone help this young man? Perhaps it is a uniform button. Do we have any uniform experts here?

A button? If we are seeing two sides of the same object, is it possibly (or more likely) a tool check or pay chit (to be turned in at the end of the work day to receive pay)? No experience, but hopefully an educated guess.

What are the dimensions (diameter and thickness)?

Then again, could it be a lapel button? The obverse (B&O side) appears to have a shape that would allow it to fasten to the lapel of a suit/uniform coat, using that odd little button hole (that I haven't used since my wedding day forty-one years ago).

Given a rubber gasket, it might be a bottle stopper.

Richard and Doc,

It is most certainly a button. It is merely 2 centimeters in diameter and about 3/4 centimeter thick. You are looking at one button, front and back. The iron pickups on the back suggest it was sewn onto a uniform.

- Chris B.

Don't allow yourself to be trapped into thinking it HAS to be a button just because it's about that size. The combination of porcelain and iron throws me off, as does having "B&O" hidden inside.

Go find a specialist in vintage clothing, especially someone who does early 1800s clothing for re-enactors. See if they agree it's a button.

I to collect conductor uniforms, and I've never seen anything like this. A 2-sided button for clothing simply makes no sense. It also doesn't match any common button types that I've ever seen. My primary hobby for over 20 years has been collecting and researching US military uniforms from the WW2 era and even with civilian wartime stuff, I've never seen anything like this for clothing.

I also have to agree on why have it be double side if it's a button, especially when the B&O logo is on what appears to be on the back side? What is A507, and why have it be prominently shown on the front? If it's simply the ID number for that button, they sure put a lot of time, effort and material into making it fancy instead of having it simply engraved or be in small type. Seems odd.

where exactly was it found? what else was found near it? what is, or was, in that area?

I would guess that it is part of a seal. You might be more familiar with either the strips of steel with name/number stamped into the side...or a wire that has a slug of lead that is crimped to hold the other end of the wire. I would say this is a seal of a different stripe...the numbers would have been registered in a journal for tracking. Imagine this used on a farm product (box of chicks, cut flowers, a smoked ham, barrel of fish) or maybe a sack of inter-company mail? Payroll?

Another idea is that it was a mechanics/machinists seal used with mechanics wire to indicate that a (for example) bearing box had been packed, inspected and sealed by B&O mechanic number A 106.

T7

This "item" was found next to a tell-tale marker on a B&O branch line. There was a station just across from it as well.