Hi all,

I have a couple more references to offer on the Tallio buttons. The first is a card of sleeve links in the Winterthur collections which shows that the the Tallio! motif was still available in the 1820s at least. One set on the card has the running fox and the "Tallio!" while another set has running hounds with no lettering. On the same card is a pair honoring President Adams, which helps with the date. Here is a link to the Winterthur site where you can see the card of buttons: 
http://museumcollection.winterthur.org/single-record.php?resultsperpage=20&view=catalog&srchtype=advanced&hasImage=&ObjObjectName=&CreOrigin=&Earliest=&Latest=&CreCreatorLocal_tab=&materialsearch=&ObjObjectID=&ObjCategory=&DesMaterial_tab=&DesTechnique_tab=&AccCreditLineLocal=&CreMarkSignature=&recid=1965.2178&srchfld=&srchtxt=buttons&id=0825&rownum=101&version=100&src=results-imagelink-only#.UW6m7aI3tns

The general motif of running foxes and hounds continued at least into the late 19th/early 20th century. A catalog published in 1900 for the Mappin and Webb jewelry company includes a pair of linked buttons with a running fox on one side and a running hound on the other, though the "Tallio" is not included. Here is the reference where you can see these links and their similarity to earlier examples:

Hinks, Peter.
1991 Victorian Jewellery: A Complete Compendium of over four thousand pieces of Jewellery. Studio Editions, London.

Since the time period for production of the motif is so broad, I'm not surprised that it showed up in a mid-19th century context, though it does seem like the peak of popularity might have been in the late 18th/early 19th century. In terms of the potential slave affiliation, if you have an enslaved groom or other companion accompany you on a hunt, you would want them to look the part. Nice clothes for hunting might have included such links as part of the uniform.

Sara Rivers Cofield
Curator, Federal Collections
Maryland Archaeological
Conservation Laboratory
10515 Mackall Road
St. Leonard, MD 20685
Phone: 410-586-8589
Fax: 410-586-3643


________________________________
 From: Carl Steen <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask] 
Sent: Wednesday, April 17, 2013 9:26 AM
Subject: Re: Tallio!
 

Thanks to all for the information. There is a long standing tradition in South Carolina of hunting from horseback with dogs. Huntsmen (I mean horse and dog handlers and such) in the 18th and 19thc were mostly African American so a plausible explanation for this being present in a slave context could be that the owner received it as an award for good work. There are, BTW, active fox hunting groups in SC today.




Carl Steen




-----Original Message-----
From: ULRICH1614 <[log in to unmask]>
To: HISTARCH <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tue, Apr 16, 2013 1:37 pm
Subject: Re: Tallio!


Thanks to Allisdair for correcting my bleak picture of fox hunting in the 
UK.

Bob Hoover