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$Tombac is a brass alloy; So called Hessian Buttons (also Tomback, Tombac, or Tombak buttons) are usually found along with relics, circa mid-18th to early 19th centuries. Buttons from all of these regiments were plain, and without any sort of unit designation. Flat-faced with a very pronounced boss on the backs, into which an iron-wire eye was anchored, these buttons originally were made of tombac (copper/zinc alloy), or thin brass, depending on the color of the regiments\' metal. During the Rev War period, the regulation white-metal buttons, identical to Hessian buttons, were imported (until 1793) from Birmingham (England) and worn by the ranks of the British Army. Also, it is reasonable to assume that flat or solid white-metal buttons of this type were cast in sand or in two- or three-piece hand molds (somewhat akin to those used in making bullets) by colonial metal workers throughout most of the eighteenth century. As the eighteenth century progressed, the Hessian buttons became both larger and more common. Most buttons have brass or copper wire loop shanks. As a rule, they are virtually indistinguishable from civilian buttons of the same period. The latter were in use until the late 1900s.$

$Scratch Blue white salt-glazed stoneware 1744-1775; median date 1759.5; \"Scratch blue\" is a term applied to a decorative technique used on English salt-glazed fine stoneware during the period circa 1744 to 1775. Before firing, decorative motifs were incised into the clay and filled with cobalt blue paint. The excess paint was wiped away leaving only the blue filled lines.$

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Smith Rebellion 1765

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Archaeology

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