Challenging South Carolina button identification

[Fleurdelis]

I'm having the devil of a time in identifying some buttons I found in my great-grandfather's attic and would appreciate any help anyone can render!

They appear to be brass, about 19mm, with the South Carolina state seal on the front. The arrowheads appear to touch the log on the left side (facing) but not the right. The detail level is high on the log itself.

The backmark is what's got me stumped. It's "Horstmann Bros & Co" "Phila" with no dots or stars before or after "Phila" and with the "a" underlined (but the "o" is not). There is also no inner or outer ring of dots on either side of the lettering as I've seen on very similar buttons.

I don't have access to the Albert, Tice, or Bazelon books to nail down which ones these are so I could really use some help!

Thanks in advance!

 

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[ivan salis]

well the wording -- horstmann and bros & co PHILA-- was used during 1859 to 1863 * peroid in philly

MIGHT HAVE BEEN A PRE WAR 1859/1860 made button -- thus the type issued pre war to state milita troops in SC ----as such it would have been the type used by SC troops during the civil war.

while the back mark was used from 1859 to 1863 *--once war broke out -- i do not think that horstmann (in philly) would be supplying the south with buttons

so my guess would be 1859 /1860 era button --supplied to SC for issue to state milita troops

 

[Tony in SC]

It is probably a cadet button possibly Citidal, issued up to 1860. The same style was used by Southern troops but were made in England by Manchester Button Co. Anything from that era with South Carolina is worth big bucks!! : . Tony

 

[BuckleBoy]

There are many CW era southern buttons bearing Scovill, Waterbury, and Horstmann backmarks. That said, I don't think this is a CW button. The fact that the design does ot appear in Warren Tice's book (which covers buttons up to 1865) is a dead give-away. The problem is that the lower portion of the button, the number of leaves on the tree, and the shape of the ribbons do not match anything in Tice. The other issue is the superscript "A" in "PHILA." The earliest possible date for the "HORSTMANN BROS. & CO." backmark on a button is 1859, but since the design and superscript "A" do not match the backmarks in Tice (pre-1865), I feel almost certain that the button is post-war.

Best Wishes,

Buckles