42 button?

[mlsbrian]

Hi, fairly new to metal detecting and found this a few days ago in a farmers field where a house once stood. It's about 7/8" diameter, and has 42 on the front. I've been unable to find any info on where it would have come from?

 

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[mirage83]

Perhaps the 42nd Regiment of Foot, the Blackwatch. Can't seem to match it to a known example though.

 

[Itsmine]

Looks like a cuff button. The 42nd Blackwatch, was involved in many battles of the American Revolutionary War. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/42nd_Regiment_of_Foot

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Not a cuff button... the squares in the photo are square inches, and the button is almost as big as one square, so it's probably approximately 7/8-inch in diameter.

Also, it is a 2-piece sheetbrass button with a raised number, which didn't exist at the time of the Revolutionary War. It might be British, but most 2-piece sheetbrass buttons showing only a large-size number are European, particularly Prussian/German/Austrian from the late-1800s through World War One.

Note that it has a period or dot at the bottom right of the 2 in 42. I've seen a couple of buttons with a period after the number, but danged if I can remember what country's army they were from.

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

I found a photo of the button I couldn't remember. Back in 2011, Pike1313, a T-Net digger, posted (in the What-Is-It? forum) a group of very unusual buttons he had dug in Utah. They turned out to be mid-European, mostly from the World War One era. Some were military, and some were European Fire Department buttons. One showing a cannon and something else crossed atop three cannonballs was an Austrian Artillery button from World War One. The crossed short-swords button is Chzeckoslovakian Army, World War One. I saved the digger's photo of the group. At the bottom of the photo below, you'll see a button with a large-size number 5, which has a period or dot at the lower right after the number. As I indicated in my previous post, the presence of the dot leads me to believe your 42 button is a World War One Prussian/German or Austrian infantry regiment button. Prisoner-of-War soldiers from those countries were held in remote prison camps here in the US, and probably some in Canada also, where you dug the 42 button.

 

[mlsbrian]

I found a photo of the button I couldn't remember. Back in 2011, Pike1313, a T-Net digger, posted (in the What-Is-It? forum) a group of very unusual buttons he had dug in Utah. They turned out to be mid-European, mostly from the World War One era. Some were military, and some were European Fire Department buttons. One showing a cannon and something else crossed atop three cannonballs was an Austrian Artillery button from World War One. I saved his photo of the group. At the bottom of the photo below, you'll see a button with a large-size number 5, which has a period or dot at the lower right after the number. As I indicated in my previous post, the presence of the dot leads me to believe your 42 button is a World War One Prussian/German or Austrian infantry regiment button. Prisoner-of-War soldiers from those countries were held in remote prison camps here in the US, and probably some in Canada also, where you dug the 42 button.

That's awesome, thanks so much for the help on this. Really enjoy learning the history behind these things.