✅ SOLVED Button looks kinda old and new

[Tedyoh]

Hi - found this a few weeks ago, the back broke off while cleaning it, it was pretty trashed to begin with so I used limeaway toilet bowl cleaner for a minute and it cleaned up pretty nice. it measures at 19mm, has 21 stars around the outside of the eagle and also has 5 stars on the top part of the breast shield. The button is thin but pretty strong. No makers marks on the back that I can see. Can anyone give me an idea on the date? Pictures are from the outside and the inside,
Thanks in advance.

 

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[Discrimination Dave]

Im guessing thats a pretty good button. Will keep my eye on this one. What general area do you live / hunt?

 

[Tedyoh]

Found this in NE Ohio about 15 miles S.E. of Cleveland

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

Will a magnet stick to the back?

 

[HutSiteDigger]

Union General staff button.. With no back-mark I think it is post war.. Someone else will have to shed light on that but I don't think it is CW period but it could be. Good luck with it!

 

[Tedyoh]

No a magnet will not stick to it - looks similar Hut - thanks.

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

HutSiteDigger is correct, it's a US Army Staff-Officer button, and it is from sometime after the civil up war to 1902. The 21 stars around the eagle, 5 stars in the shield, and being "vest-size" prove it is button GS2B in the Albert button-book, and GS202B in the Tice button-book. The "vest-size" US Staff-Officer buttons are not found on civil war battlesites nor campsites. The only known backmark on these GS2B/GS202B buttons is a postwar Waterbury Button Co. backmark.

 

[Tedyoh]

Thanks as always Cannon - thanks Everyone!

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

Are they 2 piece or 3 piece?

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Tedyoh's 1854-1902 US army officer button is a 3-piece, missing its "applied" rim.

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

Is this an unknown backmark?

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

As I said in my post above, the only known backmark on these GS-2B/GS202B buttons is a postwar Waterbury Button Co. backmark, Waterbury Button Co ***, which the McGuinn-& Bazelon book on backmarks says (and shows in a photo) is from 1890 into the early 20th-Century. Tedyoh says his button's back is blank, but we know who made that button. It is definitely the Albert book's 2B version, due to the "projecting" square corners at the top of the shield.