BUTTON,INDIAN HEAD 1893 CENT,METAL

[Mtn.treasure]

WHILE DETECTING AROUND HOME TOWN OF ASHEVILLE,N.C. FOUND THIS OLD BUTTON AND INDIAN HEAD CENT AND LOT'S OF METAL. CAN SOME ONE TELL ME ABOUT THE BUTTON AND IF THE METAL TOOLS AND GADGETS HAVE ANY VALUE.THANKS TO ALL..

 

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[TheCannonballGuy]

Your button is a yankee Infantry Officer's button. Although that spefific emblem was in service from 1854 though early-1874. your button's completely blank brass back with a "non-soldered" (flexible) thread-loop mean it was made during the civil war years, when the demand for vast quantities of those buttons caused some manufacturers to save manufacturing time and cost by not bothering to put a maker's-mark (called a "backmark") on their products.

At the extreme left in your group photo, I see an iron dinner-knife, whose wooden or bone handle has rotted away. That specific type dates mostly from the 1800s.

At the upper left corner in the group photo, I see what may be a civil war era brass or copper bullet cartridge casing, missing the bullet. We'll need precise measurements and close-up photos of it to be sure whether or not it is indeed a cartridge casing.

You asked about dollar-value. The civil war yankee Infantry Officer's button doesn't seem to have much (if any) of its gold plating, but is otherwise reasonably intact. Not showing gold plating (which most of that type do show), it would sell for about $15 at a civil war relic show here in Virginia. Might bring a bit more in other areas of the country.

 

[Mtn.treasure]

THANKS SO MUCH FOR FAST REPLY..GREAT SITE.

 

[BuckleBoy]

Did it originally have more gold gilding? Did you toothbrush it away? Cannonball guy is 100% correct on the ID. Congrats on your first Civil War button!

-Buck

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Because BuckleBoy asked:
That specific version of VERY cheaply manufactured eagle-I button (with blank back and non-soldered "floating" loop) seems to have never had much gold plating on it, if any. That's strange, because US Army Regulations specified that Officers' buttons be gold-plated. This el-cheapo version may have been manufactured with an ultra-thin coat of what is called "gold wash."

Over the past several decades, I've dug dozens of that exact same loose-loop blank-backed version, and only a very few of them had any gold at all remaining on them (even though I cleaned them delicately). Due to the el-cheapo construction and lack of proper gold-plating, I've theorized that they were manufactured in 1863-64, when the war was going full blast and even the massive yankee industrial capabilty was straining to keep up with demand for military supplies, causing the usual quality-standards to be loosened.