✅ SOLVED Waterbury Button Co. military button dating help...

[drachetanzer]

So, here's the second military button I've found for the second week in a row. I researched on the Waterbury site to see if I could find it and was able to figure out that it appears to be a US Marine Corps button, but none of the buttons I could find on the site were exactly the same (specifically the design of the rope on the anchor). I'm hoping one of you button gurus can help me date the button.

As far as I can tell the backmark is "WATERBURY BUTTON CO." with a different facing "CONN." on it (not divided by a dot or star).



TIA!

 

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[nsdq]

Early 1900s is a good possibilty

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Confirming Nsdq's suggestion... early-1900s to 1943 (when the W.B. Company changed its name to Companies, with the abbreviation changing to CO'S). Also, that particular version of Waterbury backmark is written in "plain block" letters, which on Waterbury buttons means 20th-Century manufacture.

If the front of your US Marines button has "black finish" (actually not a black paint) on it, the button dates from the World War One era to 1923.

 

[drachetanzer]

Awesome, thanks guys! I haven't been able to see any indication of gold gilding on it, and you can kind of see that it looks black where there is less dirt on the left side between the eagle and anchor. I did a quick search for "black usmc military buttons", and I found this picture, and upon closer inspection the design on the front looks to be exactly the same as the one I have:



The link description for the picture I found stated WWII bronze buttons. Do you think that's really the case, or would these have been in that WWI era to 1923 range (assuming it's the same button I have)? Or maybe the buttons were made then but potentially used during WWII...

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

The buttons in that photo definitely have the "black finish." (You can see where it got worn off the highest-raised areas of the emblem, particularly on the edges of the eagle's wings.) That means the photo caption is incorrect, they were made from the World War One era to 1923, when the use of "black finish" was discontinued. In response to your question... it is theoretically possible that those black-finish US Marines buttons sat in a warehouse unused until World War Two, and somebody in the Marine Corps remembered that black-finish buttons are good to have on a sniper's uniform. I think it's a bit unlikely, but it's "possible."

 

[drachetanzer]

Thanks for the info!