Button Gallery - Backmarks

Home

Backmarks

Backmarks gallery

	Image 1 Artillery button (military gallery) H(ammond) T(urner) & B(ates) Manchester
	Image 2 Rampant goat (livery gallery) Hammond Turner & Sons
	Image 3 Royal Northern Yacht Club (uniform gallery) Hammond Turner & Sons with crown
	Image 4 Gold circles (dandy gallery) Hammond Turner & Dickinson
	Image 5 Hammond Turner & Sons plus! Civil war dug very poor specimen (military gallery) UPDATE! This back mark is interesting because there is another maker's name within the outer circle: it is impossible to read this one but I have since bought another button (see below) which tells more of the story, although there is still an element of mystery! Click on the image for a supersize version. I appealed for information about what it might say under all that verdigris... and I am very grateful to 'Rider' who suggested that it refers to the gilding and says 'Extra Super Fine'.
	Image 6 C & J Weldon London (not in a gallery, yet...) This button is included because there was a business relationship and a friendship between Hammond Turner and Weldon in the mid-1800s: Charles Weldon was an administrator of William Hammond Turner's will. There is another Weldon backmark below.
	Image 7 Lion Works, Birmingham (not in a gallery yet...) This was the trading name of Hammond Turner in the early 20th century.
	Image 8 Reverse of basket-weave button (dandy and dress gallery) H T & Sons Best Qualy Plated (sic)
	Image 9 C&J Weldon London (not in a gallery) This front is very similar to a Hammond Turner front and is a uniform button for the Royal Artillery.
	Image 10 Features a fishing basket (sporting gallery) Hammond Turner and Sons with crown
	Image 11 Features an animal which may be a horse, a deer or even, as the seller suggested, a unicorn (sporting gallery) Hammond Turner & Sons Extra Quality with crown
	Image 12 Reverse of marbled glass waistcoat button, (dandy and dress gallery) H T & Sons Birmm (sic)
	Image 13 Weldon (not in gallery) C&J Weldon, 130 Cheapside, London. There was a business connection between Weldon and Hammond Turner.
	Image 14 Hammond Turner and Sons for John Bowen and Co. This is another version of the heavily verdigris-encrusted button above. It was made by Hammond Turner and Sons for John Bowen and Co. Does anyone know who John Bowen was? Please let me know!
	Image 15 HT&D superfine with crown This appears to be a 'blank' as there is no evidence that the shank was ever attached to the centre circle. (The front is on the left.) Is it likely that the back was stamped before the front, or were they both stamped at the same time? It may have been made to test a new die for the backmark, or it may have simply been a plain button which escaped the finishing process(es). Is the slightly raised 'rim' characteristic of certain types of button, or would it have been trimmed/stamped away at a later stage of manufacture? So many questions for one small button! I could probably answer some of them if only I had the time to read the articles I have included on this website... Button 154
	Image 16 This is included as much for the 'whistle back' construction as for the backmark. Front is image 18 in Dandy gallery Button 157
	Image 17 The ebay purchase came from a seller in Norfolk, England who dug it up. The front is image 16 in the military gallery. Button 161
	Image 18 This button was dug up in the garden of an old house near Truro in Cornwall and the finder, Jay, contacted me through this website. I am delighted that he did because it is such an old backmark. The front (not included in a gallery) is almost blank: whether that is from corrosion after being in the soil for around 200 years, or whether it was made as a plain front, I cannot tell. Button 163
	Image 19 This button came from an ebay seller in Canada: the front can be seen in the Military gallery, image 19. Button 166
	Image 20 This button is not in my collection: it forms part of the National Rail Museum's collection in York. Made for the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway (which was established in DAD 1786, according to the button), this button has the clear back mark Hammond Turners & Bate Manchester I have not previously seen this back mark and am thrilled that the NRM have given me permission to use these two photos, which remain their copyright.

Top of page