Eagle anchor cuff button

[pa-dirt_nc-sand]

Found this little guy today, W PA, about 1/4” dia. What war is it from? Thx

 

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[creskol]

Looks like Civil War era Navy Cuff Button. Great find. Any backmark info?

 

[smokeythecat]

It's pre Civil War, so was probably used during the war, as a lot of "older" buttons were still in use. I dug one in Maryland.

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

I agree with Smokie, your US Navy button is pre-civil-war, by a lot, actually. You didn't say it's a 1-piece button, so I'll assume it's a 2-piece. The eagle looks toward the button's left. That makes it a cuff (or kepi) version of Albert's NA-101 through 103.... dating from the late 1830s into the 1840s. (Navy Eagle facing to right is a bit later, late-1840s to 1852, when the Navy changed the emblem to show the eagle standing on a horizontal anchor.)

The reason I said "or kepi" (size) in the paragraph above is, you said your button measures 1/4" in diameter. Are you sure you're not mistaken about its size? I've never seen nor heard of a US Navy button which is 1/4" (6.5mm) in diameter. Smallest one I know of is the kepi-hat strap button, 13mm (1/2") in diameter.

Smokie is also right about a lot of very-prewar US Navy buttons turning up on civil war battlefields and army campsites. Apparently, more than just a few guys wore dad or grandad's uniform... or, they used whatever Military button was near to hand when they lost one off their coat.

 

[creskol]

I agree with Smokie, your US Navy button is pre-civil-war, by a lot, actually. You didn't say it's a 1-piece button, so I'll assume it's a 2-piece. The eagle looks toward the button's left. That makes it a cuff (or kepi) version of Albert's NA-101 through 103.... dating from the late 1830s into the 1840s. (Navy Eagle facing to right is a bit later, late-1840s to 1852, when the Navy changed the emblem to show the eagle standing on a horizontal anchor.)



The reason I said "or kepi" (size) in the paragraph above is, you said your button measures 1/4" in diameter. Are you sure you're not mistaken about its size? I've never seen nor heard of a US Navy button which is 1/4" (6.5mm) in diameter. Smallest one I know of is the kepi-hat strap button, 13mm (1/2") in diameter.

Smokie is also right about a lot of very-prewar US Navy buttons turning up on civil war battlefields and army campsites. Apparently, more than just a few guys wore dad or grandad's uniform... or, they used whatever Military button was near to hand when they lost one off their coat.

I don't have my books at the moment, but is there a date given in Albert's book for this button? Just curious.

 

[pa-dirt_nc-sand]

Thx guys. Yeah, bigger than 1/4 inch for sure. Back is iron, 2 piece.

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Answering Creskol's question. No, there is no date given in Albert's book for this button. But if you own a copy of the McGuinn-&-Bazelon book on dating metal buttons by their backmark, you can calculate a button's time-period pretty accurately. That is what I did for my reply above.

The US Military did not start issuing 2-piece buttons until the second half of the 1830s. Albert's NA-101a is the earliest 2-piece US Navy button. His book lists 7 backmarks for NA-101a, and the oldest two of the 7 are Wadhams, Webster & Co dating 1838-46, and Kendrick & Co/Superfine dating to the 1830s. Although the other backmarks can date a bit later, such as Scovills & Co from 1840-50, the earliest ones tell you what you need to know. One of the NA-101a backmarks is W.H. Horstmann & Co. NY... and he retired in 1845, when the Company became Horstmann & Sons. So the NA-101a backmark saying only WH Horstmann & Co. (without "& Sons") would not have been manufactured after 1845. I combined all of the info above to get the "late-1830s into the 1840s" date in my answer to pa-dirt_nc-sand about the time-period of his button.

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

pa-dirt_nc-sand, thank you for adding the new photos showing your US Navy button on a tape-measure, and showing it has an iron back. Its exactly-half-inch size equals 13mm, which is kepi-hat strap button size. As additional confirmation... the only known US Navy buttons which have an iron back are kepi-strap buttons. So, that is absolutely definitely what your button is.

For any reader here who hasn't already seen me say this:
US Navy UNIFORM buttons never have an iron back, because as soon as some of the tin-plating wore off the iron back, salty humid sea-air would quickly cause the iron back to make an ugly brown rust-stain even on a blue uniform. But the kepi-button is on a leather strap, so if an iron-stain happens there it is not visible.