Southbound again - name this button?

[Mayo South Elgin]

Went over to the further deeper excavations on south street and worked an area that had not been back filled with gravel yet. The level was probably a good 18 to 24 inches below the lawns.
The first thing I dug up was an old gas valve which had some cool ornate designs in it. I'll post a pic of it after I oil it to bring out the design details.
Next few things were random chunks of broken pieces of metal of unknown purpose. Then I got a stainless bolt like thing probably for adjusting the level of whatever it was originally screwed into.
Then further along I got a very corroded, 3 inches down in the bottom of the trench, a clad dime from the 1970's. How does that happen? I guess the street had been worked on before.

Then my most interesting find of the afternoon was this button. I have no idea what it signifies but I think I'll use it so I don't have to pay taxes any more. The writing above the shield says EXEMPT and below the shield it says US. If anyone knows what it is, please let me know. I searched for a couple hours tonight on various button sites but didn't see anything like it. The back has no eyelet or pin attachment and is just the reverse of the stamping of the shield.

Oh and I forgot to mention, the size is about 5/8 inch (0.625) approx.

 

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[Lowbatts]

Too bad it's missing the backing w/backmarks. Not a buttonhead, did you put it up over on the whatsit board yet? Looks like a winner!

 

[oz_il]

Looks like the button was reserved for the muckity mucks

eBay seller has one listed.

Part of the listing:
========
Found at an estate sale is this EXEMPT U.S. button. These were worn by men who held jobs deemed too important for them to either enlist or be drafted. These brass buttons were worn in the lapel on jackets and suit coats to "declare" their status and reflect the "Why aren't you serving" questions directed at healthy draft age men.
=========

Of course, there is the chance the seller has it ID'ed wrong so you could check for another source. I tried googling but wayyyyyyyyyy too many "exempt US" hits came up *ugh*

 

[Mayo South Elgin]

I had tried Google also with the same results of a zillion pages all being not related. Good thinking to check Ebay for it! That's the same one for sure - although mine is obviously in pretty bad shape compared to the one on Ebay. That's what happens when you're underground so long.

 

[twistidd]

Cool button Mayo! I haven't ever seen anything like that before.

I felt your pain when you mentioned finding the 70's clad dime where it was. I always tell others a similar story: Last spring at a certain Boy Scout camp, Kermit and I were swinging in a very remote, overgrown section of the woods. All was completely silent for quite some time until I got an awesome perfect quarter signal at about 7 inches in undisturbed ground covered by a thick mat of dead leaves. Holy cow, how cool was it that I was about to find a silver quarter! I only imagined what it could have been. A Barber? Standing liberty? Maybe just a silver George, but either way, I'd take it! I began digging for it, shaking like a leaf in excitement in the meantime. Finally, down in the depths, I got a great quarter tone with the pinpointer and was ready to extract my silver!

Imagine my surprise when not a silver quarter came up, but a friggin' clad quarter. My heart sank as I wiped it expecting to see a 1965 date (which still would have been unbelievable). Mayo, the quarter was a 2000 statehood quarter. I just about threw it into the river. Later that season, Kermit and I found ourselves in similar situations in the same area, though in those cases, the coins were placed there recently by funny guys looking to prank. Ha, yeah, great.

Joe

 

[kimsdad]

Great historical find, Mayo!!!

I like your idea of using it with the IRS. It might also get you into golf outings for members of the press put on by the Panther Brewing Co.

 

[Mayo South Elgin]

Just an update on the pin...
I contacted William Leigh at www.civilwarbuttons.com and he told me it was a WW1 era pin.

Right now I have it soaking in lemon juice to get the encrustation off of it. I think it works through a process called puckerization.