Old military button

[DiggerDave53]

I want to find out the background and value of this military button, if possible here.
I excavated this in 2003 within a historic island park know as Sterling
State Park in Monroe, Michigan. A final major battle occurred here in January, 1813 know as the "Bloody battle of the Raisen River" between the British, native Americans and American forces & Fort Maulden, Canada was involved with this battle. I earlier had an online historian state to me that this is an older period cuff button from the Revolutionary War.
He said it very well could be a very rare cast one piece, Type-1 , pewter military
Maryland Second Regiment or battalion cuff button. It measures exactly 16 millimeters on the outer diameter and is hand drilled through its back shank. it has 16 small cannon balls on the outer edge of the face with 2MB on center of the face. Thank you anybody that has information behind this find.

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[ANTIQUARIAN]

Welcome to Tnet from Toronto!

Definitely an early 18thc button, I'm having trouble seeing a connection to the Revolutionary War though.
After a little research online I could find nothing similar.

What we need is Cru or ThecannonballGuy to chime in here with an I.D.

Dave

 

[DiggerDave53]

Thank you for replying. Yeah, this could be a rare button and I am aching to see the back ground behind it. TTYL

 

[fyrffytr1]

Your best bet would be to contact Don Troiani. You can e-mail him pictures at chainshot@aol.com

 

[fyrffytr1]

And here is a link to his website if you want to know a little about his qualifications.

http://dontroiani.com/

 

[smokeythecat]

There was a 2nd Maryland Battalion button similar to yours that was used in the Revolution. The unit was formed in 1777 and served in New Jersey and New York, and then went to the Carolinas in 1780-81. While your button is similar to the known examples, the lettering style is definitely different than the originals, as is the relative size of the dots around the edge. The shank looks more modern than the loop shanks we find on the American buttons of the Rev War and this particular button was apparently never used. The roughness at the shank would have torn the thread off almost immediately. My best guess it is a reenactor's button. They are found quite often on the old sites and each more more and more reenactments take place.

 

[fyrffytr1]

Looking through Don Troiani's latest reference "Insignia of Independence" I don't see a button like yours. While yours does have similarities to the Maryland button in the lettering the outer rings and dots are not similar. But, the outer rings and dots are similar to Massachusetts buttons. Put that with what Smokeythecat said about the condition leads me to believe it is a reproduction as well. Hopefully I am wrong and your button is a good one.
On a side note there is a button in this book from Maryland that my brother found several years ago. It is from the Maryland Extraordinary Battalion of 1780, The button has MEB on it. It is on page 220, listed as AMEB.c. The MEB was redesignated and reorganized as the 2nd Maryland Regiment.

 

[fyrffytr1]

One more thing and forgive me if I am wrong but I don't think there was a 2nd Maryland in the war of 1812. I can't find any reference to it. There was one in the Revolutionary war but it was disbanded in November 1783. The next reference is to the civil war and a confederate 2nd Maryland.

 

[DiggerDave53]

Backmark: "Blank (17mm)"
The state of Massachusetts procured these buttons from the French, by the order of 1778 and were termed "Ordnance Buttons". Its use was widespread all along the the New england Lines. Found at campsites occupied between 1779-1783. They came in the large 24mm size and the smaller 16mm & 17mm sizes. This button is the smaller 17mm size and was excavated in the Hudson Highlands. The face is somewhat deteriorated with some edge loss, but a good over all example. The 9 lies within a solid outer circle and inner circle with dots around the perimeter. The back still has the full turret shank, not the common loop type. This button was previously in the collection of Mr. Robert Therbert Sr. before coming my way
Ref: Troiani- AMO9-H