✅ SOLVED Eagle with Shield button ID

[James57]

I found this button at a site that can have some 1800s items to modern day. It is infested with nails so there are still some old finds there. I found this button there recently. I thought that it was a jeans button at first but it is made of solid metal and it looks like it has the remains of a shank on the back. I did a search for eagle with shield buttons and the closest to the pattern was for Republic of Texas buttons. The shield is different on this button because there is no sign of any pattern on it. Is it an older blazer button? It is small, just over 1/2" in diameter.

 

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[brianc053]

Looks like a War of 1812 button of some sort. Example:

War of 1812 Infantry Coat Pewter Button Eagle Shield | #19701471

This is a Pewter 1 Piece Convex Cast Infantry Button from the 1815-1821 time period in Excellent condition. It has a Eagle with a Shield that has a Fancy Scripted I and 3 arrows in the right talon. Th

www.worthpoint.com

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Your brass 1-piece button shows a standing eagle with drooped wings, facing to its right (the button's left) next to a "spade" shield, on a lined field, with prominent flat border... but no stars, and no arrows or olive-branch in the eagle's talons. Each of those very specific details make it a match for button #GI-56 in the Albert button-book, which he says is a US Militia button. Your button is cuff-size, and unfortunately Albert showed very-very few cuff-size buttons in his book.

According to the Albert book, the coat-size version of button GI-56 has a Lewis & Tomes backmark, which dates it to 1816-1833. The War-of-1812 ended in 1815, so your button is a bit late to have been in existence during that war.

IMO, combining the bckmark date with the fact that a "lined field" background was rare before the 1820s, I believe your button was made sometime in the 1820s into the very-early-1830s.

 

[brianc053]

Your brass 1-piece button shows .... Each of those very specific details make it a match for button #GI-56 in the Albert button-book, which he says is a US Militia button.

According to the Albert book...dates it to 1816-1833.

James57, you just received an outstanding identification by a foremost expert in the field. Isn't Treasurenet - and the people on it - great!?!

TheCannonballGuy, your identification puts my "...Looks like a War of 1812 button of some sort..." comment to shame and is a great example of amateur (me) compared to professional (you). Great work again!
- Brian

 

[James57]

James57, you just received an outstanding identification by a foremost expert in the field. Isn't Treasurenet - and the people on it - great!?!

TheCannonballGuy, your identification puts my "...Looks like a War of 1812 button of some sort..." comment to shame and is a great example of amateur (me) compared to professional (you). Great work again!
- Brian

Thanks for the detailed ID for the button! I wasn't expecting an answer like this or that the button would be so old! I found it about a mile north of the US border at Washington state. There were a lot of Americans coming north for gold prospecting and the fur trade in the 1820s. It was probably from a hunter or prospector?