General Service Eagle no backmark

[Bharpring]

This general service eagle button has no backmark. Can anyone tell me who made it?

 

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[Spats]

Don't know who made it, but it appears to be the earlier version, pre-1875.

 

[Old Pueblo]

1854-1875, I think it was, but probably from the latter half of the Civil War, from what Ive been told. Imay be a little off, but someone else here will be able to tell you more.

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Bharpring asked:
"This general service eagle button has no backmark. Can anyone tell me who made it?"

Your no-backmark civil war era eagle button is from 1863-64, when the yankees were drafting everybody in sight (who didn't have the money to pay for a "Substitute"), and millions of general-service buttons were needed in a hurry. The US Army's rules for button quality seem to have been loosened during that period, and these no-backmark eagle buttons got issued on the 4-button "sack coat" uniforms of the draftees. The no-backmark eagle buttons usually have a "floppy" (not soldered) or weakly-soldered loop.

About who made it... I've never bothered to compare the EXACT DETAILS of the emblem on no-backmark eagle bttons with those which have a backmark. If you have enough interest, you could do that, by taking your button to a relic show and comparing it closely with backmarked eagle buttons people are selling. I see you live in Savannah GA. Too bad the Charleston SC relic show was held about 9 days ago. How do you feel about driving to the Dalton GA show the first weekend in February?
Bullet And Shell Show Calendar
Unless you're willing to drive to a Virginia relic-show in March or April, you'll have to wait until August for another show in Georgia (the Marietta GA show).

Or, you could go here:
Ridgeway Civil War Archive Federal general service buttons, two piece buttons....DRAFT....
and VERY CLOSELY compare EVERY detail of the eagle, arrows, and olive branch with your button's emblem, to match yours with a maker-backmarked one. (By "EVERY detail" I mean even the small details like the length of the arrows, shape of the arrowhead, "angle" of the arrows, number of feathers in the eagle's wing, shape of the eagle's neck and head, number and SHAPE of the stripes in the shield, etc, etc.)

 

[Bharpring]

Bharpring asked:
"This general service eagle button has no backmark. Can anyone tell me who made it?"

Your no-backmark civil war era eagle button is from 1863-64, when the yankees were drafting everybody in sight (who didn't have the money to pay for a "Substitute"), and millions of general-service buttons were needed in a hurry. The US Army's rules for button quality seem to have been loosened during that period, and these no-backmark eagle buttons got issued on the 4-button "sack coat" uniforms of the draftees. The no-backmark eagle buttons usually have a "floppy" (not soldered) or weakly-soldered loop.

About who made it... I've never bothered to compare the EXACT DETAILS of the emblem on no-backmark eagle bttons with those which have a backmark. If you have enough interest, you could do that, by taking your button to a relic show and comparing it closely with backmarked eagle buttons people are selling. I see you live in Savannah GA. Too bad the Charleston SC relic show was held about 9 days ago. How do you feel about driving to the Dalton GA show the first weekend in February?
Bullet And Shell Show Calendar
Unless you're willing to drive to a Virginia relic-show in March or April, you'll have to wait until August for another show in Georgia (the Marietta GA show).

Or, you could go here:
Ridgeway Civil War Archive Federal general service buttons, two piece buttons....DRAFT....
and VERY CLOSELY compare EVERY detail of the eagle, arrows, and olive branch with your button's emblem, to match yours with a maker-backmarked one. (By "EVERY detail" I mean even the small details like the length of the arrows, shape of the arrowhead, "angle" of the arrows, number of feathers in the eagle's wing, shape of the eagle's neck and head, number and HAPE of the stripes in the shield, etc, etc.)

Thank you TheCannonBallGuy, as usual you are a wealth of information and spot on!

 

[relic lover]

If you want to do some comparing to buttons that are online the Eagles tail feathers are usually pretty different from one brand to another. I tried to go by how close the tail feathers come to the edge of the button.