Infantry Button...

[Swartzie]

I'm looking for a better idea on the age of this button. I know it's pre-1902 because it does not have the great seal above the head. Also it does not have the "chicken head" on it. So from my little bit of research I think it may be pre-1875. Can anyone give a time frame from when this button was produced. The back is plain with no markings on it. The site is an early 1800's cellar hole which obviously is still producing finds for me even though I have hunted it out (I'm using a new coil). Two other military buttons have been found on the site before. Both general service pre-1902.

-Swartzie

 

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[duggap]

Your button either predates the CW or was manufactured during the war. Many buttons were made in that period that did not have a backmark.

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Due to the concretion on it, the exact shape of the letter is a bit hard for untrained eyes to make out ...but I'm quite certain the letter has what are called "knobby" serifs. Therefore, your US Army Infantry Officer's button dates from 1865 to 1875. See the Albert button-book's button GI-89 and GI-91B. Most specimens have slightly-postwar backmarks.

We civil war relic diggers almost never dig a "knobby serifs" eagle-button. They are so extraordinarily rarely dug that there is still debate about whether any were issued prior to April 1865. A possible explanation for their turning up in civil war sites at all is that they were lost by Veterans returning to those sites for Reunions, in their "current" uniform. (There is plenty of solid documentation that they did so.) We also dig a significant number of postwar-only State Seal buttons at civil war battlesites. I myself dug a strictly-postwar version of Virginia Seal button in a field at the Savage Station battlesite, just east of Richmond.

 

[Swartzie]

Due to the concretion on it, the exact shape of the letter is a bit hard for untrained eyes to make out ...but I'm quite certain the letter has what are called "knobby" serifs. Therefore, your US Army Infantry Officer's button dates from 1865 to 1875. See the Albert button-book's button GI-89 and GI-91B. Most specimens have slightly-postwar backmarks.

We civil war relic diggers almost never dig a "knobby serifs" eagle-button. They are so extraordinarily rarely dug that there is still debate about whether any were issued prior to April 1865. A possible explanation for their turning up in civil war sites at all is that they were lost by Veterans returning to those sites for Reunions, in their "current" uniform. (There is plenty of solid documentation that they did so.) We also dig a significant number of postwar-only State Seal buttons at civil war battlesites. I myself dug a strictly-postwar version of Virginia Seal button in a field at the Savage Station battlesite, just east of Richmond.

Thanks for all the info CannonballGuy!
I'll have to research again the family who lived at this property. I had documents on my computer, but lost them due to a power supply failure.
-Swartzie