Sara,

These are just very standard civilian brass buttons that we literally 
pick up by the dozens from early-mid nineteenth century sites all 
over Illinois.  I think your X-ray suggestion might be very useful 
for earlier materials, such as from one of our French colonial sites, 
but I would consider it pretty serious overkill for most of the more 
typical materials that we collect on a nearly constant basis.

Thanks, Mark
-- 

Mark C. Branstner, RPA
Historic Archaeologist

Illinois Transportation
Archaeological Research Program
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
209 Nuclear Physics Lab, MC-571
23 East Stadium Drive
Champaign, IL 61820

Phone: 217.244.0892
Fax: 217.244.7458
Cell: 517.927.4556
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