Cadet USMA (West Point) Button Help Please...

[FooserPaul]

Hello all!

I was out today at a colonial house I've been hunting... New CTX 3030 in tow... and the low-middle conductive targets seem to pop better that with the e-trac... but I only have a few hours on the machine so I could be wrong there...

Here was my 12/33 signal from 6" down...

Its not in the best shape as its been pushed in some and well... the picture tells the rest...

What year is this from ??

 

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[Retired Sarge]

Having a hard time reading the backmark, I can make out EXTRA but that's it. Looks to be a Civil War era (1860's), USMA aka West Point button.

 

[Subterranean]

Hello FooserPaul, You may have a variant of a Scovills & Co. USMA button produced 1845-1855, similar to MA208A4 in the book, "Uniform Buttons of the United States 1776-1865 by Warren K. Tice. A nice find, keep hunting that spot! Subterranean

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

First... your button's backmark is written in what's called "raised" letters (like on a typical coin), instead of "incised" letters (which go down into the metal). On American-made buttons, a raised-letters backmark almost always means mid-1850s or earlier.

Second... your USMA button's backmark appears to be "Scovills & Co. / Extra" ...which means your button was manufactured sometime between 1840 and 1850. (The company which made your button became Scovills & Co. in 1840 and changed its name to Scovill Manufacturing Company in 1850.) For more details about the history of that button-making company, see the book "American Military Button Makers And Dealers; Their Backmarks & Dates." Due to its very long title, button-collectors usually just call it "the backmark book."

Update: Subterranean's reply was posted while I was typing mine.

 

[tennessee digger]

Once again I think TheCannonball guy is right. It is good to have him here as he knows so much about relics and artillery. As a matter of fact, he actually wrote the book on it!!!!! Good I.D. Pete. Tennessee digger

 

[FooserPaul]

THank you for the information and proper ID !!