3 buttons and a carved(?) round ball

[fyrffytr1]

I had a decent hunt this morning. Found two pinfire casings, 3 round balls and 3 buttons. I know the two are eagle buttons but I need help with the age. One has an Extra Quality backmark and the other doesn't have a backmark at all. The third button is nothing special but it has lettering on the front and back. The front reads "W.R.T(?)earn, New York" and on the back it reads "W.W.T. & Co. N.Y." And last, I found a round ball that appears to be carved. It has an X cut into it with a small hole in the center. The hole is very shallow.

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Your eagle buttons with an unmarked back and Extra .*. Quality .*. backmark are civil war era buttons. Prior to the war, when the US army was much-much smaller, eagle buttons nearly always had a business-name as the backmark. But during the war, when millions of eagle buttons had to be manufactured ASAP, manufacturers got away with failing to include the company's name. We Virginia diggers have found scads of no-backmark civil war eagle buttons at the wartime battlefields and army campsites.

Your four-hole brass button is what we civil war relic diggers call "underwear buttons" ...because they were the type used on longjohns underwear. That being said, they were used long before and long after the civil war. (For example, the zinc ones marked "US" and "US Army" are World War One era. I cannot put a date on yours, because the name on it isn't in the button-backmark book.

I must also mention, your brass bullet-casings are not Pinfire casings ...which have no raised rim encircling their base.

I seem to see a single letter U on the base of one of your casings. If that isn't an optical illusion... that casing is postwar. The single letter U marking is the headstamp of the Union Metallic cartridge Company, which was founded in 1867.

 

[fyrffytr1]

Thanks for the info and forgive me for having a senior moment. I meant rimfire not pinfire. And yes, there is a faint U on the longer casing.They are both almost .32", one is .55" long and the other is .78". Any idea on the round ball? Could it have been used as a game piece? i apologise for the bad picture of the roundball. I can take an outdoor shot tomorrow without the flash if it will help.
Also, upon closer inspection the back mark on the small button reads F.W.T. & Co. N.Y.

 

[GaRebel1861]

fyrffytr1,

You've got me beat, no doubt with the eagle button finds at that site. After you left this afternoon, I pulled another Indian cent which made me two for the day (1879 & 1890), two musket balls, two crappy but period rings and several rim fired cartridges. We will hit that site again soon!

 

[rock]

Thanks for the info and forgive me for having a senior moment. I meant rimfire not pinfire. And yes, there is a faint U on the longer casing.They are both almost .32", one is .55" long and the other is .78". Any idea on the round ball? Could it have been used as a game piece? i apologise for the bad picture of the roundball. I can take an outdoor shot tomorrow without the flash if it will help.
Also, upon closer inspection the back mark on the small button reads F.W.T. & Co. N.Y.

I would be interested in a better view of that stone ball.

 

[GaRebel1861]

I would be interested in a better view of that stone ball.

I saw it today, and it is made of lead.