BioProfessor
Silver Member
It seems that some people - myself included - have trouble making out the Script A on the button. Hey that's why I though it was a suspender button. So I have added an image from Tice's book that shows how different it is from the other Confederate "A" buttons. Hope it helps
Well I made it back from across the pond, touched down in Minnesota for a bit, and headed back down south. Started trying to get the winter place up and running and after 4 days of it, I was getting a little antsy to go out and dig some holes. I'm close to Charleston, SC so finding historical places is much easier than in Minnesota. So I decide to go back to a quiet spot on a small island where a pretty large contingent of Union soldiers spent a lot of time during the Civil War. I've also found some Colonial buttons and do-dads so it is always interesting.
My "head" was still tuned to the soil and sounds from across the pond so I was digging way too many nails and rusty what-nots. Just having a heck of a time walking away from a signal that is good over there but pretty much crap here. I was also detecting through several inches of pine straw so even the good signals were somewhat broken. I started to get the sounds figured out and the targets I decided to dig were better. But not much. I went from digging nails to digging musket balls. Musket balls are nice but after about 10, you get tired of cutting through the roots to get ANOTHER musket ball. I gave up and headed out into a cut hay field. That didn't turn out too well as the no-see-ums were there waiting for the carbon dioxide puffing, sweating, out of shape metal detector guy. So I compromised and found a shady strip alongside the pines but still in the field.
I had gone only about 10 yards and got a good repeatable signal. I knew it wasn't a musketball as they always sound a bit scratchy so I assumed it was a 3-ringer. Dug about 50 of those in the pines over the past couple of years but they are worth the effort. Never know when it might be a different sort. I plugged the hole and flipped it out beside the hole. Target was out on the first try. About time and no roots to cut. Grabbed my pinpointer and found it right away. Blew the dirt off and saw it was a cool button. It was a Script I... No not an I. It was a Script C... No not a C. It was a Script... I had no idea. I put it in my pouch and detected a bit more. Dug some more musketballs - Geez - and then headed for home.
On the way home, I kept trying to think of what the design was if it wasn't the Script letters I was familiar with. The shank was a bit "weird" and not like all the other buttons I had found there. About halfway home, I had convinced myself that this "fancy" design was just a design and it was either an overall button or a blazer button. Oh well it was neat looking.
I got home and rinsed the button in plain water to get the dirt off and see the design a bit better. Still nothing I had seen and not knowing what letter it was supposed to be - if it was a letter - made looking it up on the internet sites a bit challenging. I decided to try one last thing and pulled out my Tice Uniform Button book. I thought I might at least be able to tell what letter it was. While I was flipping through the pages, I saw it. At least I thought I did but it was in the Confederate button section. The entire island was supposed to be Union occupied all during the war and never expected a Confederate button to be there. But I looked at the picture and compared the backmark. IT WAS A MATCH. It was an English-made, Blockade-run, Confederate Artillery Script A button. WHAT THE HECK?
But there it was. Christmas had come early to this fella.
Quite a day on the island.
Daryl
Well I made it back from across the pond, touched down in Minnesota for a bit, and headed back down south. Started trying to get the winter place up and running and after 4 days of it, I was getting a little antsy to go out and dig some holes. I'm close to Charleston, SC so finding historical places is much easier than in Minnesota. So I decide to go back to a quiet spot on a small island where a pretty large contingent of Union soldiers spent a lot of time during the Civil War. I've also found some Colonial buttons and do-dads so it is always interesting.
My "head" was still tuned to the soil and sounds from across the pond so I was digging way too many nails and rusty what-nots. Just having a heck of a time walking away from a signal that is good over there but pretty much crap here. I was also detecting through several inches of pine straw so even the good signals were somewhat broken. I started to get the sounds figured out and the targets I decided to dig were better. But not much. I went from digging nails to digging musket balls. Musket balls are nice but after about 10, you get tired of cutting through the roots to get ANOTHER musket ball. I gave up and headed out into a cut hay field. That didn't turn out too well as the no-see-ums were there waiting for the carbon dioxide puffing, sweating, out of shape metal detector guy. So I compromised and found a shady strip alongside the pines but still in the field.
I had gone only about 10 yards and got a good repeatable signal. I knew it wasn't a musketball as they always sound a bit scratchy so I assumed it was a 3-ringer. Dug about 50 of those in the pines over the past couple of years but they are worth the effort. Never know when it might be a different sort. I plugged the hole and flipped it out beside the hole. Target was out on the first try. About time and no roots to cut. Grabbed my pinpointer and found it right away. Blew the dirt off and saw it was a cool button. It was a Script I... No not an I. It was a Script C... No not a C. It was a Script... I had no idea. I put it in my pouch and detected a bit more. Dug some more musketballs - Geez - and then headed for home.
On the way home, I kept trying to think of what the design was if it wasn't the Script letters I was familiar with. The shank was a bit "weird" and not like all the other buttons I had found there. About halfway home, I had convinced myself that this "fancy" design was just a design and it was either an overall button or a blazer button. Oh well it was neat looking.
I got home and rinsed the button in plain water to get the dirt off and see the design a bit better. Still nothing I had seen and not knowing what letter it was supposed to be - if it was a letter - made looking it up on the internet sites a bit challenging. I decided to try one last thing and pulled out my Tice Uniform Button book. I thought I might at least be able to tell what letter it was. While I was flipping through the pages, I saw it. At least I thought I did but it was in the Confederate button section. The entire island was supposed to be Union occupied all during the war and never expected a Confederate button to be there. But I looked at the picture and compared the backmark. IT WAS A MATCH. It was an English-made, Blockade-run, Confederate Artillery Script A button. WHAT THE HECK?
But there it was. Christmas had come early to this fella.
Quite a day on the island.
Daryl
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Congrats on a beauty of a button. Don't you love it when your persistence pays off? 
