Eagle button id help needed

[johnt_ms]

I found this eagle button this week. It is unlike any I have found and can't make out much on the back mark. The shield is noticibly smaller than other button I have. It is also not embossed like others. Any gurus out there have an idea?

 

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[duggap]

Best my eyes can see, it looks like a general service button. It is of the kind used from 1854 to 1876.

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Unfortunately, T-Net's "enlarge image" option isn't working for the photos you posted, at least not with my computer. Please spell out as much of the backmark as you can. Use a dash/hyphen for letters you can't read. For example, S--VI--.

In the front-photo, your button looks like a low-convex front. Please post a "sideview" photo so we can see how much of a dome it has.

More photos of the front and back could help, too. Usually the lighting is a bit different in different shots, which can reveal details that don't show in some views.

Your button seems to have a "perfect-circle" thread-loop, which is a characteristic of British-made military buttons during the 1860s. (See an example in the photo below, a British-made Confederate Artillery "A" button.) Of course, that doesn't automatically mean your button is British-made... but it might be a helpful identifying characteristic.

 

[johnt_ms]

The only two letters I can read on the back mark is the TH the rest is not readable even with my loop. Here is a sideview

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Thanks for the backmark info. The closest match for the front I can find in the Albert book on American uniform buttons is GI-82B, whose backmark says Leavenworth & Co. -- which has the letters "th". But it has an "I" on the shield.

You haven't told us your button's size-measurement. Comparing it with your fingertips, it looks smaller a coat-size button. The Albert book doesn't show all the vest-size and cuff-size variations of US Army "eagle buttons." You might have one of those unpublished variations.