Eagle Buttons Gettysburg Little Round Top and Cemetery Ridge

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floatcopper

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Hi,
I don't know if I'm supposed to do this or not but I found two buttons on ebay that are dug. Maybe I shouldn't be doing this but I'd like to know something about them. Maybe someone could give me more information as to their approximate value and history?

If I'm wrong in posting this here, let me know. You all seem so nice and I really like reading all the great postings! Here are pictures of my two button purchases. The man I got them from said they were dug at Gettysburg back some 45 years ago. One came from Little Round Top and the other from Cemetery Ridge.

Thank you very much for your help.

floatcopper
 

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Cool Buttons.

? ? ? ? ? It is posable they were dug there.

I swung a detector there (Little Roundtop) in the 60's with no problems.

Of course, I didn't have the guts to dig tho ?;D
 

Thanks.

How do I tell if these are real?

The guy I purchased them from said they came from "the Carter Collection."

He said they were dug back before the sites were closed to detecting.

floatcopper
 

floatcopper said:
Thanks.

How do I tell if these are real?

The guy I purchased them from said they came from "the Carter Collection."

He said they were dug back before the sites were closed to detecting.

floatcopper
Click to expand...
Look at the back and compare with confirmed originals, would be my suggestion. 8)
 

Here are the backs of the buttons.

Thanks much for your help.

floatcopper
 

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Thanks everyone!

Especially thanks omnicognic!

I plan to clean them very carefully and leave the patina.

Any suggestions on how to clean them?

floatcopper
 

That is fascinating. I am surprised they came up and were also in such good shape. Dont clean them . Let an expert handle this or read more about them and cofirm there authenticity. Great finds for E-bay. HH
PS. Not that Omni or Stoney are not, its just they cant Personally see them. I have all the Faith in the world as to there knowledge and respect there opinions without question. (almost) LOL HH
 

Just a tip, the key points are chich claw the arrows are in and the #, the type of wings. One backmark is Waterbury and the other is Extra Quality.
Floater, I appreciate your vote of confidience ;) but I've never touted to be an expert in any field. I just try to achieve a more or less basic knowledge in various areas and hope in 30 years or so to have 1/3rd of the knowledge that some people here have.
 

Thanks again for all the information and suggestions.

Would it be wrong for me to soak them in water and brush away enough dirt to better reveal the detail or should I leave all the hardened dirt where it is?

I don't have any idea of the worth of these items so maybe they're worth what someone is willing to pay? I see dug Civil War buttons online for as little as $5 each. I paid a lot more than that for these.

floatcopper
 

Floater said:
That is fascinating. I am surprised they came up and were also in such good shape. Dont clean them . Let an expert handle this or read more about them and cofirm there authenticity. Great finds for E-bay. HH
PS. Not that Omni or Stoney are not, its just they cant Personally see them. I have all the Faith in the world as to there knowledge and respect there opinions without question. (almost) LOL HH
Click to expand...
Floater is absolutely correct! Don't do anything to them untill you can take them to be appraised by an antiques/relics expert!
omnicognic said:
"I'm not an expert, but I play one online!" ;)
Click to expand...
I'm just pretty good with research, but that about it! Good Hunting! omnicognic 8)
 

Yes, I can see where you're right. I won't do anything to them. Maybe the dirt and all help prove that these actually came from the locations the seller said they came from?

How do I get in contact with an expert?
 

You might click on the above link and scroll down to his email and phone #. You might then be able to get more information and also get an approximate buy price-keeping in mind that dealers will pay less so as to make a profit. Yours has the back and shank intact which helps keep the value up a bit. Remember also that you were high bidder so don't be dissapointed if you hear someone offer a lesser price and don't take the 1st bid offered.
You also might cantact Mark Parker of W&E (Ask Mark Parker column) for an opinion. Read his criteria before sending a picture and SASE.
 

I don't think I would get too excited. I have dug quite a few civil war era Federal buttons similar to yours and yes dug Federals are really quite common. I imagine the premium you paid was for where they were found not their actual value. If you had a valuable CW button it would have been highlighted in the description. The relic boys usually have a button book for precise ID.

By the way I toured Gettysburg back in the 60's with a metal detector in my trunk. No I didn't detect there as it was highly illegal then as it is now to detect in a Battlefield park(illegal to remove relics since 1895). Perhaps they were surface finds from an old locals's collection.

George
 

Nice buttons,

ebay is full of them, $10 to $20 ea. is a fair/average price, and what most sell for on there (unless) it's an extremely rare button, and or in excellent (non dug) condition/s.

HH

Lonewolfe
 

Be careful if you clean them. No tooth brush or scrubbing. You could easily take off any gold gilt they might still have.
I'm no expert, but i recently dug 3 confed. eagle buttons. One was smashed, but the other 2 had 90% of the gold still on them that showed through after dabbing with a wet sponge. HH
 

What lonewolfe wrote is right, there really are lots of these buttons offered at different times on ebay (just not from these locations). I think I paid too much but that's ok. I just wanted read Civil War buttons that were actually used. I think I have that in these. I paid $28 for the best one and $18 for the other(w/ship $50 total). But again, I'm not a collector I purchased them just mainly for the fun of it.

As far as them being dug where the seller said, well, I guess there's no way of proving that. But I suppose it's possible and maybe that's all that really counts. With anything dug, the only way we know for sure where it came from is if we dug it ourselves, right?

Thanks for the cleaning tip, rvbvetter.

Thanks for the nice words, allen.

Thanks for the technical info bakergeol, stoney56, and omnicognic.

And I really like your headphones, Floater.? ;D

I'm rather surprised to learn that there's so much to this button collecting. I always had the idea that Civil War soldiers pretty much all wore the same military buttons for their side.

What are the most valuable Civil War button types?

?
 

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