✅ SOLVED SCOVILL MFG CO WATERBURY Button ID

[FoundInNC]

SCOVILL MF'G CO WATERBURY Button ID

Hey yall, I bought this button today at a local antique store for $2.00. I do not know tons about backmarks and I would really like to know what this button was on. I think this button is from the 1880s to 1910s.

This is what another site said:
SCOVILL Mf'g Co. WATERBURY : 1850-1865

I do not think it is that old. What do you guys think?

The company I was leaning toward is Maine & Boston Railroad. Any comments and ideas will be welcomed.

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

FoundInNC wrote:
> This is what another site said:
> SCOVILL Mf'g Co. WATERBURY : 1850-1865

Must be a typo error at that website. The Scovill Manufacturing Co. made uniform buttons marked with its company-name from 1850 to the early 1960s. That website must have meant to say 1965, not 1865. If the website is the Jimyce site on button-backmarks, I should mention that it is NOT reliable, because it has a LOT of incorrect info in its backmark dates list.

> I do not think it is that old.
> I think this button is from the 1880s to 1910s.

Your guess is correct. Although the Scovill Mf'g. Co. used its name in backmarks from 1850 to the 1960s, the "earlier" backmarks always included additional markings -- such as stars, shields, a circular line, a circle of dots, etc. Your button's backmark contains none of the additional markings, so it dates from the 1880s well-into the 20th Century. For example, World War One era US Army buttons have been found with your exact "very plain" Scovill Mf'g. Co. backmark. So your guess of 1880s-to-1910s (or later) is accurate.

I did a websearch for you on the name "Maine & Boston Railroad" (and abbreviated variations of that name). Unfortunately, there seems to be almost no time-period info on the internet about that company. I did find a mention that it was in business in 1897, and seems to still be in operation today.

The Waterbury Button Company's online sales-catalog shows an M&B button like yours (with the exact same lettering-style, except for a slight difference in the & character) as being a Middlesex & Boston St. Railway uniform button. That company was formed in 1907, and its railway-type streetcars last ran in 1930. You can read its history at: Middlesex and Boston Street Railway - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

To see the Waterbury Button Co. version of your button, and M&B St. Railway attribution, go here: 6703 - Railroad - Waterbury Button

Here's the photo of it.