Button. Military or civilian?

[Ammoman]

I found this two piece button today and was wondering if it is military or civilian?
The design looks to be an eagle. Unfortunately the back is missing. It was found at a permission that dates to the early 1900’s



Thanks in advance

 

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[fyrffytr1]

In my humble opinion it is civilian.

 

[Kray Gelder]

US Navy officer's button 1852 to 1941. If you tooth pick the crud directly under the anchor you should find a little stack of 3 cannonballs. Nice find.

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Sorry to have to say... it is definitely a modern-era Civilian usage "Fashion-clothing" imitation of an actual US Navy button. Compare it with the photo of a real US Navy button, below.

Differences between your civilian imitation and the true Military-issue one:
Rounded-top wings instead of pointed-top wings,
one or both valleys between neck and wings is U-shaped instead of V-shaped,
"weakly-stamped" detail instead of crisp sharp detail,
eagle's beak looks tiny like a bird's beak instead of an eagle's large powerful beak,
eagle's belly is fat/bulging,
rope encircling the emblem does not pass through the ring on anchor's top.

Lastly... unlike Military-issue buttons, which must be thick sturdy construction, civilian Fashion buttons usually (but not absolutely always) have a cheap thin iron/steel back, which is often rusted out or completely missing on dug ones... as it is the case with yours.

The other button photo below doesn't show your exact version, but is included to show "waekly-stamped" detail.

 

[Kray Gelder]

Thanks for the correction, Cannonball guy.

 

[Ammoman]

The information cannonball gave is very insightful. Thank you to everyone for their input!

 

[ticndig]

Thanks for the lesson CBG. it's great to not only know what it is ,but to also understand the differences between relic and reproduction .

 

[fyrffytr1]

I think anyone who has detected for any length of time has found one of those buttons. If you haven't found one yet you probably will.