Help with Eagle Button Identification

[HeatherM]

I've been hoping for an eagle button for awhile and finally found one today at a house built 1903 but I believe there was an earlier house there too. My eyes are starting to cross looking at different types of eagles online. It looks to be most similar to the US Army Button 1875-1902 with the raised lines on the shield but it is still not exact. My shield seems to dip down on top where most have a point on top and are a wider shield all the way down while mine V's more toward the bottom. Does anyone recognize the exact eagle?
The back looks to say Waterbury on the bottom so assuming Scovill on top. I am afraid to clean it more than I have. I used a toothpick to get some details better and wiped with my thumb a bit. It does appear to have been domed but is pushed in a bit on top which is why I'm afraid to chip away at anymore of it as some of the raised details may already be gone. Let me know if there is a way to clean it anymore or anything I should do to preserve it.
My photos show the stages of cleaning. The first photo is a bit disorienting as I had to screenshot my rotated picture to get the eagle pointed the right way. My fingers are not really chopped off.

 

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[invent4hir]

Congrats on finding an eagle button Other Tnetters will ID & give good cleaning advice.

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

I cannot discern a raised letter in the center of the shield on your eagle-button. Assuming it does in fact not have a letter there, your button is an 1854-74 US Army enlisted-man's uniform button. It's official name is the 1854-74 "US Army General Service" button -- meaning, it as worn by enlisted-men in all branches of the army... artillery, infantry, cavalry, etc. -- EXCEPT the Engineer Corp, which had its own distinctive "castle" emblem on its uniform buttons..

 

[HeatherM]

Thank you for the info CannonballGuy! In person I can see lines on the shield versus a letter. I know it's harder to see in my photos.
What makes you say it is the older type versus the 1875-1902 version? I thought the shield looked like the younger version since it looks smaller than the older version shields?
I was using this picture to try and compare. Thank you for any insight.

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

HeatherN, the US Army 1854-74 eagle-button's finder, asked:
> What makes you say it is the older type versus the 1875-1902 version? I thought the shield looked like the younger version
> since it looks smaller than the older version shields?

It's not the size of the shield that matters, it's the shield's "height." We button collectors call the 1854-74 version the "raised-shield" eagle button. It's as if somebody carved a tombstone into a shield shape, and laid that slab on the eagle's chest. If you look closely at the top of the 1875-1902 shield in the Inkspot photo (or the photo attached below), you'll see "the edge of the slab." On the earlier versions of the eagle-button, the shield is not high-raised.

 

[HeatherM]

Ok, I think I can tell the difference. I'm thrilled it's the older version! Much appreciated!