✅ SOLVED Help with button ID needed - soldier holding staff and sword

[Tommy G]

This mystery button is one of several finds this weekend, but I have no idea of its origin. It is slightly convex, with what appears to be a soldier on the front holding a spear or staff in the right hand, and a sword in the left. It was found at a 1756 home site here in Virginia that I hunt often. It looks like it has words on it, or maybe mostly just a design around the edges, but I can clearly see the letters INA at the bottom. It may just be a civilian button, but I've seen several revolutionary period buttons with a similar design, but not quite the same. Any help with this button would appreciated. Thanks for looking.

 

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[CRUSADER]

I did a quick newspaper search and found this article about another of these buttons which was found in the vicinity of Statesville, NC in 1874.

I love your research & what you do, but I'm not sure this is the answer.

 

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[Tommy G]

OK, sorry to report that eBay could not find the listing as provided by DCMatt. They were very helpful on the phone, patiently conducting several searches of their database using the item description, but came up empty. They claim that if the item had actually been posted on eBay, they would have found it in the database; so they suspect there was never an item posted with that description. Oh well, it was worth a shot.

The more I think about this, I'm theorizing that we had some immigrants from the failed state of the Republic of Columbia (as described in the newspaper article) make their way to the US and most likely hired out as farm labor; some being prior military and bringing old uniform items with them. We may never know, but I'm convinced this one is solved thanks to all of you.

 

[Tommy G]

I love your research & what you do, but I'm not sure this is the answer.

I'm somewhat surprised, and would truly like to hear your thoughts on these latest developments. I found your previous observations concerning the weapon positions to be very astute. Now that the sword is most likely an anchor, the pike has now become the primary weapon, positioned in the right hand as one would expect. One may now make the case that the soldier is leaning on the anchor with the left hand, signifying a dependency on that anchor (the navy) for support. It all seems to compliment your initial logic.

 

[CRUSADER]

I'm somewhat surprised, and would truly like to hear your thoughts on these latest developments. I found your previous observations concerning the weapon positions to be very astute. Now that the sword is most likely an anchor, the pike has now become the primary weapon, positioned in the right hand as one would expect. One may now make the case that the soldier is leaning on the anchor with the left hand, signifying a dependency on that anchor (the navy) for support. It all seems to compliment your initial logic.

Sorry, must have been drunk. The sword is an anchor & the description is spot on & the time period is what I would expect for the construction.

 

[Tommy G]

Thanks to everyone for the help with this mystery button. I'm going to declare it solved, but of course will continue to look for a photo source. I continue to research leads generated from the article that Bramblefind found and have posted some quick references below that support the brief history contained in that article.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gran_Colombia

Gran Colombia (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈɡɾaŋ koˈlombja], "Great Colombia") is a name used today for the state that encompassed much of northern South America and part of southern Central America from 1819 to 1831.
The official name of the country at the time was the Republic of Colombia.[2] Historians have adopted the term "Gran Colombia" to distinguish this republic from the present-day Republic of Colombia, which began using the name in 1863, although many use Colombia where confusion would not arise.[3]

The Republic of Colombia comprised more or less the former territories of the Viceroyalty of New Granada (1739-1777), which it claimed under the legal principle of uti possidetis. It united the territories of the former Third Republic of Venezuela, the United Provinces of New Granada, the former Royal Audiencia of Panama and the Presidency of Quito (which was still under Spanish rule in 1821).

Marine (military) Facts for Kids | KidzSearch.com

The Confederation of Gran Colombia Marines were formed in 1822 and were disbanded in 1829, Personnel were mostly from Venezuela.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venezuelan_Marine_Corps

The Venezuelan Marines trace their history back to the combined marines corps of Gran Colombia which was formed in 1822 and was dissolved in 1829 following Venezuela's secession from Gran Colombia. This was surprising as the Marine Corps of the Confederation largely consisted of Venezuelans. The Marines' most notable engagement in this era was the Battle of Lake Maracaibo (1823). During this time the Marines were mostly manned by personnel by the Grand Colombian Army, and used army-style ranks while wearing naval uniforms.