Button Help Needed

[Dirtwisher]

Who's got Albert's button book? I think this says Mass Volunteer Militia. Not sure about the last word. Can't read the back mark. There is an arm raised with a sword, and stars around the rim. Would love to know the age. Thinking mid 19thc?

 

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[danimal03]

yes. Mass militia button. without knowing a specific backmark it would be difficult to pinpoint the exact age; but this style was used general from 1850's to early 1860's. it looks to be of he proper Civil War era context but could have been made before the war. Northern state seal buttons were generally phased out during the war in favor of Federal issue buttons though Mass and New York issued loads of buttons seemingly longer than other states. But there exceptions and I know of a New Hampshire state issued frock coat id'd to a KIA soldier in April 1865 and has the New Hampshire state seal buttons. I dug 4 x earlier 1840's Mass militia buttons in a west coast site. it seems the men from Mass made their way all over the US.... nice find.....

 

[Dirtwisher]

Thanks Danimal! I have to try to get a back mark to pin it down. It's in rough shape as buttons go, but I will take it. These things are cool. Thank God they hadn't invented plastic yet.

This site has promise (nearby cellar hole) but it is all covered with poison ivy so I may have to get a drum of agent orange to take care of it.

 

[Davers]

Very nice Button.
Looks to be from a VERY Fertile Field.

For me that would be an AWESOME Find , Here in GA.

Davers

 

[dirtlooter]

wow, that button has cool written all over it!

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Being a relic-digger for 40 years, and having done micro-examination of many hundreds of corroded button-backmarks, there's a CHANCE that I could ID it from seeing just a few letters in the backmark. I cannot guarantee success at that... but please post some well-focused closeup photos of your button's backmark.

One thing I can say about its time-period without seeing the back:
It is a brass 3-piece button which has what button collectors call a "narrow" rim. In the mid-1870s (and afterward), many were produced with a "wide" or "extra-wide" rim. Therefore, your 3-piece button with the narrow rim is most likely from before the 1870s.

I should mention, there are two exceptions to that time-dating-by-rimsize rule. But your Massachusetts State Militia Staff-officer button is not one of the exceptions.

Compare the rim sizes on the New York Militia buttons in the photo below.
Button #12 has the wide rim,
#13 (your type) has the narrow rim,
#14 has the extra-wide rim.

 

[dirtlooter]

gotta like thecannonballguy, he knows his stuff

 

[Dirtwisher]

Sure does. I could have Googled it, but why, when there guys like cannonball, danimal, relicman, iron patch and crusader to provide better info and without having to work for it?