✅ SOLVED Help dating a button backmark - D. Evans

[creskol]

Can't find this one in my book.

Thanks!

 

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[duggap]

I couldn't find that particular backmark either. But in looking at your pic, are you sure it doesn't say "D Evans & Co". That would make it one we could find in the books.

 

[creskol]

I couldn't find that particular backmark either. But in looking at your pic, are you sure it doesn't say "D Evans & Co". That would make it one we could find in the books.

You are right .. looks like it does say "& Co." on it, which I see listed, but don't see a date for it.

 

[nhbenz]

It's very close to one listed (shown) as a 1860-1900 back mark, only difference being that the asterix to each side of "extra" being shown as a 5-pt star, where I see more points, (like an asterix) on your button.
Whats on the front? And what size?

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

According the McGuinn-&-Bazelon book on button backmarks, the firm of D. Evans & Co. was in business as a button-manufacturer from 1848 to 1945. As Nhbenz's post indicates, some of the varieties of D.Evans backmarks were used for a long timespan. An example of that, and its effect on a Military button's collector-value, is the VMI (Virginia Military Institute) button with an 1860-through-1880s D. Evans & Co. backmark. Those particular VMI buttons are considered "less desirable" among collectors, because there's no way we can know for certain whether the button was made in 1860-61 or in the 1870s (the latter meaning it could not have been worn by a Confederate soldier). I can tell you from personal experience that hundreds of D. Evans VMI button's were dug at the school's campus, with most of all of those coming from students' uniforms in the 1870s and later.

Now, about a 3-piece button with a "D. Evans & Co. Extra" backmark:
When a 3-piece button has a backmark which dates from slightly before the civil war though a decade or more) after 1865, we collectors rely on the fact that the width of the flat rim on 3-piece buttons was significantly increased soon after the civil war. See the photos (below) for comparison of 3-piece buttons with a narrow rim and a wide rim. Your button has the wider version of rim, so in the opinion of the top Button-Scholars (Tice, Binder, Albert, McGuinn and Bazelon) it was manufactured after the civil war.

Sidenote:
There are just two versions of pre-1865 American military 3-piece buttons which have "the wide rim." So, the wide-rim-means-postwar rule has two known exceptions. One is the earliest version of Michigan State Seal button -- shown in the Albert button book as MG-1. I can't recall the other one at the moment.

For easy visual comparison, here are the photos showing the narrow-rim and wide-rim versions of the same kind of button.

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

DCMatt, pardon me please, but I feel I must post a correction to the Warman's Civil War Collectibles book (which is a price-guide book). The Rhode Island 3-piece button in the photo is definitely postwar-made. It is shown in the Albert book as button RI-25, and being strictly postwar era button, Albert gives it a Relative Value of 2 (which means $2).

 

[DCMatt]

DCMatt, pardon me please, but I feel I must post a correction to the Warman's Civil War Collectibles book (which is a price-guide book). The Rhode Island 3-piece button in the photo is definitely postwar-made. It is shown in the Albert book as button RI-25, and being strictly postwar era button, Albert gives it a Relative Value of 2 (which means $2).

I stand corrected (sitting actually).

Thanks keeping the record straight.

DCMatt

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Wasn't actually you I was correcting, DCMatt. You relied on what the "Warman's Civil War Collectibles" guidebook says. That book is sold as a price-guide for collectors. But it is notorious for having many-many errors ...which seem to not get corrected by the publisher in newer editions. It has misled lots of collectors. So "experienced" collectors don't trust what the Warman guidebook says.

 

[DCMatt]

Wasn't actually you I was correcting, DCMatt. You relied on what the "Warman's Civil War Collectibles" guidebook says. That book is sold as a price-guide for collectors. But it is notorious for having many-many errors ...which seem to not get corrected by the publisher in newer editions. It has misled lots of collectors. So "experienced" collectors don't trust what the Warman guidebook says.

Not a problem. Thanks for the tip on Warman. I am happy to learn from the experience of others.

DCMatt

 

[creskol]

According the McGuinn-&-Bazelon book on button backmarks, the firm of D. Evans & Co. was in business as a button-manufacturer from 1848 to 1945. As Nhbenz's post indicates, some of the varieties of D.Evans backmarks were used for a long timespan. An example of that, and its effect on a Military button's collector-value, is the VMI (Virginia Military Institute) button with an 1860-through-1880s D. Evans & Co. backmark. Those particular VMI buttons are considered "less desirable" among collectors, because there's no way we can know for certain whether the button was made in 1860-61 or in the 1870s (the latter meaning it could not have been worn by a Confederate soldier). I can tell you from personal experience that hundreds of D. Evans VMI button's were dug at the school's campus, with most of all of those coming from students' uniforms in the 1870s and later.

Now, about your 3-piece button with a "D. Evans & Co. Extra" backmark:
When a 3-piece button has a backmark which dates from slightly before the civil war though a decade or more) after 1865, we collectors rely on the fact that the width of the flat rim on 3-piece buttons was significantly increased soon after the civil war. See the photos (below) for comparison of 3-piece buttons with a narrow rim and a wide rim. Your button has the wider version of rim, so in the opinion of the top Button-Scholars (Tice, Binder, Albert, McGuinn and Bazelon) it was manufactured after the civil war.

Sidenote:
There are just two versions of pre-1865 American military 3-piece buttons which have "the wide rim." So, the wide-rim-means-postwar rule has two known exceptions. One is the earliest version of Michigan State Seal button -- shown in the Albert button book as MG-1. I can't recall the other one at the moment.

For easy visual comparison, here are the photos showing the narrow-rim and wide-rim versions of the same kind of button.

Finally got a photo of the front of the button:

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

The specific version of "Eagle-I" emblem on your button was specified by a General Order in 1851, and was issued from that year through 1874 (when the emblem was changed somewhat). Your button's particular backmark of "D. Evans & Co. / Extra" (with no ribbon or other embellishment) dates from approximately the same length of time. So, unfortunately, your button is like the ribbonless D. Evans VMI buttons... there's no way to know for certain whether your button was made before, during, or after the civil war years of 1861-65.

I hope it helps you at least somewhat to know the specific version of Eagle-I emblem on its front means it was manufactured within the comparatively narrow 1851-1874 daterange.

 

[creskol]

The specific version of "Eagle-I" emblem on your button was specified by a General Order in 1851, and was issued from that year through 1874 (when the emblem was changed somewhat). Your button's particular "D. Evans & Co. / Extra" (with no ribbon or other embellishment) dates from approximately the same length of time. So, unfortunately, your button is like the ribbonless D. Evans VMI buttons... there's no way to know for certain whether your button was made before, during, or after the civil war years of 1861-65.



I hope it helps you at least somewhat to know the specific version of Eagle-I emblem on its front means it was manufactured within the comparatively narrow 1851-1874 daterange.

Thank you very much Pete! I appreciate the help ..Green Check time

Thanks to all others who posted as well .. Much obliged!