Excelsior Button

[up north]

This popped up Saturday. Nothing else of note has come from this old farm so I was really happy to see an old button. The back is almost gone, but some writing is still legible. Can you please help with ID? All of the other similar examples i can find have horizontal lines in background. THANK YOU.

 

[Terry Soloman]

Sweet Find!

 

[Calabash Digger]

nice!

 

[Red-Coat]

I don't know what the button was for or when it dates from, but I presume you know that's the coat of arms for the state of New York, formally adopted in 1778

 

[Digger RJ]

Nice!!!!! Congrats!!!!!

 

[Wildcat1750]

Nice fin!. I agree that it is a New York State button of some sort.

 

[fyrffytr1]

Can you tell us the size of the button in MMs? And, can you confirm that there are one or two ships in the shield? I think it is two and the only backmark similar to yours is a Scovill Mfg. Co. Waterbury State of New York one. It is listed in Albert's book as NY32a and described as a "later" state seal button.
A note in Albert's on these buttons states:
"There are a number of different varieties of these later New York state seal buttons. It is known that many of them have been and are being used by municipal employees rather than by the armed forces of the state. There are three sizes, 23, 16 and 28mm."
Since this book was published in 1977 I can only assume that your button would date probably date from the post WWII era to around and after the 1977 publication date.