I fear the rest of us might be able to help with that one. On the other hand, given the depth and breadth of knowledge and experience represented in this list, there just might be someone out there who would know exactly why.

Jeff

Jeffrey L. Boyer
Supervisory Archaeologist/Project Director
Office of Archaeological Studies, Museum of New Mexico

  *   mail: P.O. Box 2087, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87504
  *   physical: 407 Galisteo Street, Suite B-100, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501
  *   tel: 505.827.6387 fax: 505.827.3904
  *   e-mail: [log in to unmask]

"The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there." -L. P. Hartley, 1953

________________________________________
From: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY [[log in to unmask]] on behalf of Carl Steen [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Wednesday, July 20, 2011 1:23 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Spanish buttons

Melhora means "Improved" in Portuguese, which sounds plausible (Improved Quality). Its definitely an L, not a J and there's no break between the letters. Now, how did a PORTUGUESE or Galician button end up on a nineteenth century site in SC?




Carl Steen




-----Original Message-----
From: Giovanna Vitelli <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Wed, Jul 20, 2011 3:13 pm
Subject: Re: Spanish buttons


Carl, it might read as a spelling variant of mejora calidade, J rather than
L.   Best quality. Perhaps?



-----Original Message-----
From: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Carl
Steen
Sent: 20 July 2011 14:43
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Spanish buttons

Hi All - It's 101 degrees here in South Carolina  so I am catching up on
labwork and writing. I have found a typical looking South Type 18 button-
that's the one that is usually stamped "Treble Gilt" or something similar on
the back. That is, a flat, plated button with a stamped back. This came from
a 19th century site in the western part of the state. Only this one is
stamped "...ELHORA CALIDADE" The Calidade part is clear, but I can't think
of a word ending in "elhora". One or two letters are missing. Anybody else
seen one of these? British buttons like this are usually from early 19th c.
contexts. Do they last longer in Spanish contexts? People were heading out
to Texas (and back) from here during the 1830s and 1840s, which might
account for its presence, but no one I've talked to locally has ever seen
one.




Carl Steen-