Agate coat button

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Not on view

Label Text

This agate button with a silver boss was among a larger set owned by George Washington. Originally numbering a dozen or more, the semi-opaque hemisphere of precious stone offered a unique embellishment to one of his formal coats. The white and brown striations in the stone would have offered a sharp visual contrast and compliment to the black velvet suits he often wore during his presidential years.

See also buttons, W-2344/B, W-2343/A-D and W-943, and gold brooch, W-2777.

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Date1755-1795

Geography Probably made - England

Medium/TechniqueAgate, silver

DimensionsOverall: 1 1/4 in. x 1 1/4 in. x 5/8 in. (3.18 cm x 3.18 cm x 1.59 cm)

Credit LineGift of Mary Lee Bowman and Robert E. Lee IV, 1985

Object numberW-2344/A

DescriptionAgate stud with silver boss at center; polished domed face on the obverse; flat surface on the reverse; cast silver shank terminating in a flat circle projecting from the rear.
Published ReferencesCarol Borchert Cadou, The George Washington Collection: Fine and Decorative Arts at Mount Vernon (New York: Hudson Hills Press, 2006), 226, 291.

George Bolling Lee, will dated 27 June 1944, unowned manuscripts, MVLA.

Mary Custis Lee, Appraisement of Estate of Mary Custis Lee, probated 21 February 1920, proved 29 March 1920, unowned manuscripts, U.S. District Court, Washington, D.C.

"List of Washington and Other Silver and Washington and Other Relics," [10 October 1902], unowned manuscripts, MVLA.

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