A fair amount of bullets

TokenMan · Oct 11, 2014

I was able to get into a place that is said to be hunted out...they left a little for me :hello2:

There are a couple of items I am not real sure about. If you have any ideas on ID, please let me know. Thanks for looking and have a great day!

The steer head...is it a bolo?

Bullet ID? Burnside?

Strange buckle? Egyptian figures on sides.

Thanks again!

I-DIG-IT · Oct 11, 2014

Nice digs.

collector01 · Oct 11, 2014

Congrats on the lead! No help on I'd my books are home not good enough to ID without them lol. I'd hit that hunted out site again. HH!

TheCannonballGuy · Oct 11, 2014

TokenMan wrote:
> There are a couple of items I am not real sure about. If you have any ideas on ID, please let me know.

TokenMan, the bullet you asked about is a very rare version of civil war .54 Burnside Carbine bullet, distinguished from the common version by having a single V-shaped groove encircling its body. It is shown as bullet 91-B in the "Handbook Of Civil War Bullets & Cartridges" by James E. Thomas and Dean S. Thomas. I recommend that book for civil war relic diggers because it contains many corrections of wrong identifications in the old McKee-&-Mason book on civil war bullets.

Your "eagle button" showing a globe encircled by stars above the eagle's head is a US Army uniform "Great Seal" button. Although those were first adopted in 1902 and are still in service today, we can narrow down that time-range about your button. The 1902-1910 version did not have a raised rim, and yours does. Also, the World War One era to 1923 version had "black finish" on its brass front, because shiny brass buttons could give away a soldier's position to enemy snipers. Your button seems to show not even a tiny trace of "black finish" on its front, so it was manufactured sometime after 1925. If it has a backmark, please tell us what it says (and post a photo of it), because that could narrow down your button's time-period even further.

TokenMan · Oct 11, 2014

collector-yep, will be going back for sure! I was only in there for a total of 4 hrs over 2 days and there is a lot of ground left :thumbsup:

Cannonballguy-once again I thank you for the info. The back of the button is M.C. Lilley & co. Did that go til the 40s? Thanks in advance. And I will pick up the new handbook. I had a feeling that bullet was different.

Thank you again for your time.

TheCannonballGuy · Oct 11, 2014

Since you asked... the M.C. Lilley Company began dealing in Military "regalia" in 1876 and lasted through World War Two. My source for that info is the book "American Military Button Makers And Dealers; Their Backmarks & Dates" by William F. McGuinn and Bruce S. Bazelon. Because the US army was quite small in the 1920s/30s compared to its numbers during the war, the statistical odds greatly favor your M.C. Lilley backmarked Great Seal button being made during WW2 instead of the 1920s or 30s.