Any info on backmarks on this Louisiana button?

LaTxHunter

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Aug 21, 2011
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I found it IMG_20210409_164258_107.jpg at a skirmish site in LA. Obviously it was corroding badly in the ground but i understand that's normal with LA buttons since many were made by smaller manufacturers.

I can see some lettering on the back but I cant see a compete word. I'm attaching pics of the front and back.

Hopefully someone has a copy of Albert's Button Book handy. 20210608_223110.jpg 20210608_223110.jpg
 

DCMatt

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Pics are too blurry. The camera is focusing on your fingers. Lay the button no a medium dark, non-reflective surface. Use natural light if you can.
 

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TheCannonballGuy

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LaTexHunter asked:
> Any info on backmarks on this Louisiana button?
> Hopefully someone has a copy of Albert's Button Book handy.

Yes, somebody here has a copy of the Albert button book handy. It shows your button is Albert button number LA-7, which had only three backmarks:


H.E. Baldwin & Co./ New Orleans
Scovills & Co. / Waterbury
Scovill Mfg. Co. / Waterbury.

Therefore, it was made sometime between 1840 and 1863. Historical documents have been found which prove the Scovill firm sold uniform buttons to several Southern states during the war. The "Scovills & Co." backmark was only used from 1840 to 1850.
Your button cannot be from after the civil war, because very shortly after it ended, the state's yankee Carpetbagger government changed the State Militia uniform button's emblem from the version worn by Confederates. The version you found was not made after the war ended. (See the postwar LA buttons in the Albert book -- the emblem includes the word "Louisiana".)

Now that you know the only 3 possible backmarks, you can probably compare whatever letters on your button's backmark are still readable, and deduce the correct backmark. Please let us know.
 

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Truth

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Wow congratulations I found one outside of New Orleans which I heard are rare because all of our boys were sent to Virginia so it?s quite a find. Mine doesn?t have anything on the back either but it really doesn?t matter it is one of my prize buttons I have found CONGRATULATIONS !!!! IMG_0185.jpg
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image-2021-06-09-13:49:55-456.jpg
image-2021-06-09-13:50:24-106.jpg
 

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