old navy uniform button help!

[HollandsBrook]

I recently dug this button while metal detecting and has been told it is from the revolutionary war period but cannot identify it. I believe the metal composition is brass/copper. Any help or point of references would be much appreciated!
http://marc-mcdermott.com/IMG_1425.JPG
http://marc-mcdermott.com/IMG_1421.JPG

[RELICDUDE07]

Sweet find ,this may help with your finds............. http://www.artifacts.org/ look around at all the old navy stuff,heres one kinda like it.......

[CRUSADER]

Not British, I think. However definately looks 18th century & might be Spanish??

[Iron Patch]

French Colonial Navy. (Rev War time frame) Smokin!

[Don in SJ]

Iron Patch is 100% correct. It appears your button is photographed in Don Troiani's Military Buttons of the American Revolution. Yours seems to match FCN.d Enlisted man's large brass, one in the book is 24mm. Super find.



Don

[Iron Patch]

Iron Patch is 100% correct. It appears your button is photographed in Don Troiani's Military Buttons of the American Revolution. Yours seems to match FCN.d Enlisted man's large brass, one in the book is 24mm. Super find.

Don

There's also an American one based on French design that's pewter. If the one above was something other than brass or copper, or didn't have a turret shank, I think there would be some question to who wore it. I think it's impossible to say, but if it were mine I would tend to think French.

PS... I found one last year made of lead. That one I tend to think probably American but like you I'll never know 100% being both the French and American Army used the same pattern.

[HollandsBrook]

hey guys thanks for all the responses! i forgot to mention that its diameter is just a hair under 17mm. you guys have any idea of the value? (approx. range) thanks!

[Iron Patch]

hey guys thanks for all the responses! i forgot to mention that its diameter is just a hair under 17mm. you guys have any idea of the value? (approx. range) thanks!

Probably $50-$100 but having been found on American soil would likely boost the price to the right collector. French buttons do not come anywhere close in value to American or Loyalist, British probably fall somewhere in the middle. All generally speaking of course.

[Don in SJ]

There is a 17mm one in the book also.

Don

[HollandsBrook]

thanks don for looking that up! does the book list any suggested values? i wish i could go to a borders or barnes and noble but they do not keep any button books in stock

[Don in SJ]

No values listed.

Don

[Neil in West Jersey]

Marc,

I just saw your post in the NJ forum and I am glad to see your research is paying off. The Rutgers maps collection is a fantastic research tool for our area. You may also want to check out the "American Memory" collection of the US Library of Congress at http://www.loc.gov. There are a lot of resources including (but not limited to) maps and historic photos. The "Built in America" collection has many engineers reports of historic homes in the area including photos. It even has maps pinpointing the location of these structures. A lot of the pictures were taken in the 1930's, and some of these homes are long gone. I have found some good sites using this section of the site as well.

Congrats on a nice button. Although I have found hundreds of buttons in South Jersey from the same time period as you , I have yet to dig a pre-1900 military button! With the British marching within two miles of my home in April and June of 1778 as they fled Philadelphia, this baffles me!.

Welcome to the forum!

Neil

[HollandsBrook]

thanks for the tip neil! perhaps the british used a better method of sewing their buttons on!

do you tend to hold on to the buttons you find or sell them to collectors/ebay?

[Neil in West Jersey]

thanks for the tip neil! perhaps the british used a better method of sewing their buttons on!

do you tend to hold on to the buttons you find or sell them to collectors/ebay?

Marc,

No doubt, the British were better "put together" than the rag tag Continental forces. Most of our infantry wore civilian clothing, so perhaps many of my buttons were military in a sense.

Generally speaking, military buttons command higher prices than civilian buttons do. I have never sold any of my finds, even though I have dug some nice key date coins over the years. Even common date silver coins (with todays rising silver prices) are going for decent money on eBay, but I have not sold any of my hundreds of dug silver coins.

[Iron Patch]

thanks don for looking that up! does the book list any suggested values? i wish i could go to a borders or barnes and noble but they do not keep any button books in stock

You'll never find a price guide for those early buttons because it's too subjective, ever-changing, and probably a lack of sales to establish a guideline as many in the book are fairly rare. It only takes the right site to push a button from a few known to 20 known, there went the price.

[HollandsBrook]

good point iron patch....where might one find a collector that may be interested in the purchase of suck buttons? any specific web pages or places to look this up? (I'm a newbie and just need to be pointed in the right direction). Thanks!

[Iron Patch]

good point iron patch....where might one find a collector that may be interested in the purchase of suck buttons? any specific web pages or places to look this up? (I'm a newbie and just need to be pointed in the right direction). Thanks!

Ebay definitely has the collectors but in my opinion your button is not worth selling for what you will likely get.