Military or civilian?

[Erving]

Got a short hunt in this morning with a couple friends before it started raining. Only found a few Lincoln Memorials and a couple buttons, but when I cleaned the buttons up I was pleasantly surprised to see one was a silver plated, one piece, convexed button with an eagle and 17 stars one it. It doesn't have a shank or back mark, but it's in pretty good shape. I couldn't find a match in my button book, so I'm not sure if it's military or civilian. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks for looking.

 

[jamesbibb]

Nice one!! Dont recognize it off hand. But it doesnt look civilian. Have to check books later

 

[Bill D. (VA)]

Would like to see the back, but based on what I'm seeing your button looks authentic and could be military or possibly patriotic. I could only find one button in my Albert's book that came close, and that came under the "Unclassified and Unidentified" section on page 459 (button #138). Also, the 17 stars could be a clue as to its age. Ohio became the 17th state in 1803, and Louisiana was the 18th in 1812, so it might be that your button was produced somewhere in that time period. Just a thought. Nice find regardless.

 

[Erving]

Here's some better pics.

 

[Iron Patch]

Don't think there's much doubt, gotta be early military or political. I'm sure you'll get an answer on it.

 

[CRUSADER]

Based on what I have learnt on here I'm leaning towards early 19th C patriotic/political button. Either way its a good one!

 

[BuckleBoy]

Is the button 12mm in size?

 

[Erving]

Thanks for your replies. Finally found a match. Although it's not silver plated like the one I found, it's a post War of 1812 army infantry button.

 

[wlb42]

Nice Button!!

 

[Wildcat1750]

A really nice button find! Glad you were able to find a match to ID it.

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Posting this info here in Today's Finds because the button also got asked about in the What-Is-It forum.

Although its true nearly all Reproduction buttons lack a backmark, the lack does not automatically mean a button is a Repro. You've got one of the exceptions... a blank-backed Original. Specifically, it is a 1-piece brass Militia (not US army issue) button, from the 1810s-20s. It is shown in the Albert button-book as GI-67, with only one listed backmark, "Best Quality / London." Thus, the GI-67 buttons are British-made. The most likely reason yours is blank-backed: The American public boycotted British-made goods for about 10 years after the War-Of-1812. So, manufacturers tended to omit marking their products with any sign of British origin.

Deliberate "absence of origin-marking" was also done during the civil war, by yankee and British manufacturers who were selling goods to the Confederacy.