Solved!!!!!
From an article in Western & Eastern Treasures magazine, February 1996,
"Once again we hit paydirt. I retrieved a button made of brass, the face of the button bore the image of a three legged eagle and around the rim were the words Es Devs Spes Nostra. Having as a friend a priest who speaks Latin really helped. He later told me that the words in English meant " God Is Our Hope." Further research reveled that the eagle is a Teutonic eagle. The button may have come of a Hessian soldier, mercenaries used by the British during the Revolutionary War. However, modern "blazer buttons of this type are often found"
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A Hessian Soldier Button, but say that it could be a modern blazer button reproduction. Is there a way to tell an original from a reproduction? I found an identical button, buried about 14 inches deep in an 1800s park alongside what was mud lake in Pontiac, Mich. It differs from the one in your pictures only in the construction of the back. While the one in you photo appears to have a slot from which a wire loop could have been attached, mine has a substantial loop about 3/32 wide that appears to be an integral part of the back. I'm trying to find out if the button I found is an original or a modern reproduction.
Chuck Williams
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In regards to the ‘ex des spes nostra” buttons, and determining whether it is an original or a modern reproduction, here are my findings.
I came across your website when I was trying to find the meaning of the Latin motto on the buttons of a sweater that I bought just a few years ago at a thrift shop. The sweater was made in Calgary ca. 1960’s or 70’s so the buttons are almost definitely reproductions. They do not have the type of slot backing that your photo depicts. Instead they have the more substantial loop that forms the back of the button itself. I believe that the photo shows an original, and my sweater buttons (and also Chuck Williams’) are modern.
Regards,
Cal MacKendrick
