“The are little details which make 18th century clothing move from costume to clothing. Sometimes this is the tailoring and others it is the accessories to the clothing. In recent years some truly amazing work has been done in recreating some original sleeve buttons as they were known in the 18th century. Today we commonly refer to these as cuff links, though that term did not appear until the 19th century.”

“One sleeve button design which appears at a number of sites is the “Tallio” sleeve button. Featuring a fox leaping across a plowed landscape below the word “Tallio”, these are commonly found as a brass or copper alloy artifact. They have been found at many sited including the Yorktown / Williamsburg Virginia area, Dumfries Virginia, Savannah Georgia, Hudson Highlands New York, Hannastown Pennsylvania, and Point Pleasant, New Jersey. The oval design for sleeve buttons became popular in the second half of the 18th century and was most common in the 1770s and onwards, replacing the previously popular octagonal shaped sleeve buttons.”

“In 2008 another was found in the root cellar at Ferry Farm, birthplace of George Washington. It was specifically found in a layer of debris which was deposited between 1766 and 1772. Colonial Williamsburg has one in its collection dating to about 1775 from England which was acquired through museum purchase. And now, if you look carefully, you will find these very same sleeve buttons are once again available as reproductions in brass with rumors of a gilt version before too long.”

Tallio! Sleeve Buttons
“Known today as “cuff links”, in the 18th century they were known as sleeve buttons and used to fasten closed the wristbands of shirts and armbands of shifts. Plain or fancy, these linked buttons were used by all classes of society in the 18th century. These oval polished brass buttons are inscribed with a fox and “Tallio”, 1/2 inch, and are perfect for the gentry or middling class shirts. Handmade by the nationally known artisan, Ward Oles, At the Eastern Door, one of the foremost artisans in America. Quarrelsome Tailors, c.1790”