Steele & Johnson button

Ahab8 · May 24, 2014

Had literally 45 minutes this morning to detect. Leaving for my cruise tomorrow and I have a million things to do. I went to a spot with no written history but it's close to a major river and I just had a gut feeling.
On my goals list this first year was to find a military button. The military history in Maine is very limited so I knew it wouldn't be easy. I dug this 2 piece button today and had a feeling by the look of it that it may be military. If anybody can help with any info I'd appreciate it. The front was gone which makes this find bitter sweet. Hope you all have an awesome week! I will be drinking Coronas in the sun :headbang:

Mackaydon · May 24, 2014

Steele & Johnson Manufacturing Co operated in the 1850s followed by Steele & Johnson Button Co from the late 1850s to 1875. This maker was very active, but most buttons produced by them bore the names of the outfitters or nondescript quality denoted backmarks.
This site may interest you: Button bac marks, Steele & Johnson, Waterbury, Connecticut.
Don........

ModernMiner · May 24, 2014

Abe,
Congrats on the button. Enjoy your vacation. You may want to bring that knife with you to crack open the crab legs. :laughing7:

Enjoy!
-Doug-

Ahab8 · May 24, 2014

Mackaydon said:
Steele & Johnson Manufacturing Co operated in the 1850s followed by Steele & Johnson Button Co from the late 1850s to 1875. This maker was very active, but most buttons produced by them bore the names of the outfitters or nondescript quality denoted backmarks. This site may interest you: Button bac marks, Steele & Johnson, Waterbury, Connecticut. Don........

Don thank you . You are a huge asset to this forum

Ahab8 · May 24, 2014

ModernMiner said:
Abe, Congrats on the button. Enjoy your vacation. You may want to bring that knife with you to crack open the crab legs. Enjoy! -Doug-

Thank you brother. It'll work great on the oysters and crabs. It'll prob pop the top off my brew as well

TheCannonballGuy · May 24, 2014

Your button's EXACT back (saying ".STEELE.&.JOHNSON") is shown in a photo in the McGuinn & Bazelon book on button-backmark dating, which says that specific marking dates from "circa 1860."

Steele & Johnson's advertising said the company manufactured military, fireman, police, and school uniform buttons. So, your button was almost certainly a uniform button of some kind. I should mention, the majority of the company's production in the 1860s was military buttons -- so, "the statistical odds" favor your circa-1860s Steele & Johnson button-back being from a military button.

Your photo of its back shows the rim of its front is still attached to the back. Does any part of the front's emblem remain? If so, please post a photo of it.

Ahab8 · May 24, 2014

First off a HUGE thanks to you CBG! You and a few others are the reason I chose this forum over the others. To have such passionate people with such a wealth of knowledge is what makes this forum so great. We all appreciate you. Unfortunately there's just nothing on the front. Bummer as I've never dug a military button and it's high on my first year goals list. But I'm not complaining. This first years journey has been incredible. Thank you my friend for the help

Bill D. (VA) · May 24, 2014

Abe - it's a shame your button didn't have the front still attached. I'd be willing to bet there's a fairly high probability it was military related. A lot of CW era button backs have a similar appearance, although I've never seen that backmark before. Now get back out there and dig some more colonial silver.

beez0404 · May 24, 2014

Enjoy your vacation. We're all headed up to your neck of the woods to hunt all your spots while you're gone!

Ahab8 · May 24, 2014

Bill D. (VA) said:
Abe - it's a shame your button didn't have the front still attached. I'd be willing to bet there's a fairly high probability it was military related. A lot of CW era button backs have a similar appearance, although I've never seen that backmark before. Now get back out there and dig some more colonial silver.

Thanks buddy I'm a little bummed about it but I can complain as I've had an incredible first right months of detecting. Completely changed my life for the better. I hopefully will find more...but they're not easy to find in my area.