🔎 UNIDENTIFIED Mystery CW button

[ashsdad]

Any help identifying this button would be greatly appreciated. Dug within. 30 feet of a Hillsborough Academy button in eastern NC. Thanks!

 

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[Mud Hut]

It looks like one of those Japanese buttons that had a stone mounted in the center.

 

[ModernMiner]

I can’t tell in the picture what’s in the center? Letters or design?
Is it this?

Button - North Carolina Star Burst - Stamped Brass

www.ccsutlery.com

North Carolina "Sunburst" Coat Button - Silvered

Item: North Carolina "Sunburst" Coat Button - SilveredBackmark: BlankDesign: A seven-pointed raised star or "sunburst" on a stippled field with border. The star's prime point is down, or in the six o'clock position. Raised letters "NC" are found in the center on a horizontally-lined background...

www.virginiarelics.com

 

[ashsdad]

I can’t tell in the picture what’s in the center? Letters or design?
Is it this?

Button - North Carolina Star Burst - Stamped Brass

www.ccsutlery.com

North Carolina "Sunburst" Coat Button - Silvered

Item: North Carolina "Sunburst" Coat Button - SilveredBackmark: BlankDesign: A seven-pointed raised star or "sunburst" on a stippled field with border. The star's prime point is down, or in the six o'clock position. Raised letters "NC" are found in the center on a horizontally-lined background...

www.virginiarelics.com

It had D stamped in the center but it has 6 points as opposed to the 7 points on the NC.

 

[ModernMiner]

This may be of help:

https://civilwartalk.com/threads/the-6-sided-star.122426/?amp=1

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Sorry to have to say:
In my opinion, the rather complex emblem on that button is not in any way related to North Carolina. (Nor is it a Military button.)

There is a name for the geometric shape of the main emblem, but I cannot recall that name. The points can make the emblem kinda-sorta resemble a "star"... but it isn't a star. It is a six-sided figure composed entirely of Arcs. (For anybody who doesn't already know, an Arc is a piece of a circle... the word "arch" is derived from it.)

No button with an even slightly similar emblem is found in the North Carolina section of the Albert button-book, nor in Dan Binder's excellent softbound "companion" booklet, "Civil War Collectors Guide To Albert's Button Book."

I like Mud Hut's suggestion that it resembles Japanese buttons which have a stone mounted in the center. Some "Golden Age" buttons also have a stone (or rhinestone) in the center. All of those were made for Civilian usage, of course.

Micro-examination of the photo of this button's back suggests there may be a backmark which can be deciphered after careful cleaning. If so, that could help pin down the button's time-period of manufacture. Sorry to have to contradict the finder's hope, but IMO this button is far more likely to have been made in the 1840s/50s than during 1861-65. Being found near a civil war button is suggestive of civil war usage... worn by a Confederate soldier to replace an irreplaceable lost Military button on his jacket. The backmark, if there is one, can help settle whether it was made during 1861-65, or not.

 

[ModernMiner]

Always a great learing experience Cannonball Guy. I always tell people that I've learned more about history on Tnet than I did in high school. Probably had more things on my mind back then. Cars and girls, not in that order.
MM

 

[ashsdad]

Sorry to have to say:
In my opinion, the rather complex emblem on that button is not in any way related to North Carolina. (Nor is it a Military button.)

There is a name for the geometric shape of the main emblem, but I cannot recall that name. The points can make the emblem kinda-sorta resemble a "star"... but it isn't a star. It is a six-sided figure composed entirely of Arcs. (For anybody who doesn't already know, an Arc is a piece of a circle... the word "arch" is derived from it.)

No button with an even slightly similar emblem is found in the North Carolina section of the Albert button-book, nor in Dan Binder's excellent softbound "companion" booklet, "Civil War Collectors Guide To Albert's Button Book."

I like Mud Hut's suggestion that it resembles Japanese buttons which have a stone mounted in the center. Some "Golden Age" buttons also have a stone (or rhinestone) in the center. All of those were made for Civilian usage, of course.

Micro-examination of the photo of this button's back suggests there may be a backmark which can be deciphered after careful cleaning. If so, that could help pin down the button's time-period of manufacture. Sorry to have to contradict the finder's hope, but IMO this button is far more likely to have been made in the 1840s/50s than during 1861-65. Being found near a civil war button is suggestive of civil war usage... worn by a Confederate soldier to replace an irreplaceable lost Military button on his jacket. The backmark, if there is one, can help settle whether it was made during 1861-65, or not.

Thanks for the awesome response. I totally agree with you. I'd had me extremely excited when I dug it. Finding the Hillsborough button, Tom Thumb token and a J-hook all in the same area was mind blowing. I need to get the button book at some point for sure.