✅ SOLVED Military Button ID - Army, Navy & Foreign

[Old Pueblo]

These are some old buttons my grandfather collected a long time ago. I dont know where any of them came from, although I suspect at least some of them he found here in Arizona and New Mexico, where he used to do a lot of bottle digging and stuff. He also had a few metal detectors, which had to have been some of the first ever made, since this was back in the 1960s and 1970s or before. I can tell that a couple of them are rimless Great Seal Buttons dating to between 1902 and 1910, and some of the others are Great Seal buttons with a rim, but thats all I know. A few of the others have eagles and anchors, so they must be Navy, and the last two appear to be foreign. One has crossed cannons and the other looks British, with a crown and a lion or something in the center. Please help.

 

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[Bigcypresshunter]

You have a combination of buttons, some Great Seal, I see what looks like a US Navy or 2, a Marine and I see one civilian blazer button in a Navy motiff. You may want to post the backsides maybe a rare backmark you never know

 

[Old Pueblo]

Almost everyone of the buttons appears to be dug and is all crusty or is missing their backs. Ill post some better photos of what I can. I also wanted to ask, what would be the preferred way for getting all of the crust and filth off of the backs of them? If I could get the filth off Im sure I could get some better photos for you. Its really hard stuff on there.

 

[Old Pueblo]

The big gold anchor button says "Superior Quality" on the back, another has a bunch of little writing, but its one of the rimless Great Seal buttons from 1902-10 (The larger of the two rimless ones you see in the photo). The others are either all crusty or damaged or are two piece type buttons, missing the back half altogether (All of the little anchor buttons are like this).

 

[Old Pueblo]

But like I said, If I cleaned some of them I might be able to read them. Is lemon juice good for cleaning these? What about vinegar?

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

That last button looks British

 

[Old Pueblo]

I noticed on the cannon button there is also a crown.

 

[P.ALLEN]

Cross Cannons might have been early colonial way prior to 1812, the British had way better buttons through all the campaigns they had been on. Even so much that the Canadian Provinces had own unit buttons. Super cool stuff, some of the big eagles might be post ww1 Army buttons (i'm not an expert)

 

[Old Pueblo]

My grandfather did travel back East many times in his life, but other than that I dont know where those foreign ones or the naval ones could have come from. He might have purchased some, who knows. They dont look like they all came from the same place.

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

There are no mysteries on the eagle buttons, even without the backmarks I could tell you, but its hard for me to point to each one. Maybe if you numbered them?

I dont know the best way to clean them sorry but BuckleBoy has a great old post somewhere on cleaning buttons

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

But like I said, If I cleaned some of them I might be able to read them. Is lemon juice good for cleaning these? What about vinegar?

Try reading this hope it helps http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/cleaning-preservation/89045-how-clean-buttons.html

yours are TWO-PIECE BUTTONS WITHOUT GILDING (gilding is a mercury process gold plating) I dont see any gilded or gold plated buttons except maybe that shiny gold US Navy on the bottom left

 

[Old Pueblo]

Sure thing. It will be a minute though.

 

[Old Pueblo]

Sorry, the quality is not so great. My camera is not very good and my phone isnt working right now.

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Your button showing a crown above crossed cannons above a four-layer stack of cannonballs is a Spanish Artillery button from the Spanish-American War era. The photo below shows a non-excavated specimen of your button.

I agree with BigCypressHunter, your other foreign button seems to show the Coat Of Arms of Great Britain. I thought it might be a 1902-to-1952 British Army "general service" button, but your newest photos show it has/had an iron/steel back, so it is a civilian-usage blazer button. To see what some real British Army buttons from the past two centuries look like, go here and scroll down to the British Army "general service" buttons.

 

[Old Pueblo]

Great info, thanks. I had no idea it could be Spanish, from the war with Spain. It was definitely in the ground at some point, so maybe some American soldier brought it home from Cuba or something and lost it here. I have no idea where my grandfather got it, but he was a Navy vet.

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

Number 8 is a civilian blazer button with a Navy Motiff. He must of dug these buttons

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

#9 looks like a legit old US Navy unless the back is steel.

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

#10 US Navy, Eagles head facing to his right, 1941 or later

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

#s 1, 2, 7 like you say US Army Great Seal coat buttons. #4 Great Seal cuff button. That screw back is a cap button I believe. Rimless are older.


Heres a link on Great Seal Buttons. I havent had a chance to update it lately and it may contain errors as its a work in progress. http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/what/112828-great-seal-button-backmarks-help.html

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

He probably dug all of these. Too bad he didnt leave a map to the spot.