The "mortgage button" or "amity button" was a small ornamental inlay often featured on newel posts of a main staircase in the 19th and early 20th centuries, particularly in American and European homes.
[2] According to tradition, the homeowner would arrange to have a button made of ivory set onto the newel post when the house was paid off.
[3] Another version is that a scrimshaw maker would engrave the date the loan was paid off onto a piece of ivory, which was inserted the newel.
[4] One popular myth was that the decorative cap was concealing a deed to the house, or a mortgage document, which had been rolled up and hidden inside the newel post.
[2] Others have suggested that the ivory button on the newel post was a symbol of cooperation or brotherly love.