Military Button Help.....

[spudnutt]

I found this button a couple of weeks ago. I've been doing research and haven't been able to find this particular Scovill backmark anywhere so I'm having some trouble dating it. Many War of 1812 buttons have been found at this site. The site was active during the Revolutionary War, War of 1812 and the Civil War.

The backmark reads "SCOVILL * L. HAYDEN ***" Not sure if it matters or not but the N in Hayden is backwards.

The eagle on the front is holding 3 arrows in each claw. He appears to have a shield and I believe I can make out an A for artillery within the shield.

I've found buttons with this same eagle, just not with this backmark.

Thanks for your help!!

[Mackaydon]

LEVENWORTH, HAYDEN & SCOVILL was in business between 1811 and 1827.
Don........

[TheCannonballGuy]

Spudnutt wrote:
> I found this button a couple of weeks ago. I've been doing research and haven't been able
> to find this particular Scovill backmark anywhere so I'm having some trouble dating it.

As Mackaydon said, your brass 1-piece US Artillery button's manufacturer was Leavenworth, Hayden, & Scovill, which was in business from 1811 to 1827.

If you want a more-exact date range for your particular button:
The specific emblem on your button's front is the result of a US Army regulation issued in March 1821. So, your button can be no earlier than that year, even though ts manufacturer was in business during earlier years.
The McGuinn-&-Bazelon book on backmarks includes info on your exact button's backmark, "L, Hayden & Scovill". (The L is the abbreviation for Leavenworth.) The book says the US Army placed orders for such buttons from that manufacturer in 1826-1826.

[deltamann]

This is a nice link for button back marks.

http://pweb.netcom.com/~jimyce/bm.html

[Bigcypresshunter]

This is a nice link for button back marks.

http://pweb.netcom.com/~jimyce/bm.html

Its nice to see they finally corrected some of the spelling typos and corrected the Waterbury dateline. The title THE WATURBURY COMPANIES in yellow is still misspelled and also under Scovill. There is only one U in Scovill Mfg Co Waterbury, CT. backmark. Otherwise its laid out very nicely and easy to read and comes up first on Google..