🔎 UNIDENTIFIED Maybe a button, maybe not

[ncsuwolf]

Brass 1.02” dia. Not sure if it’s horse tack, to be worn by a person, or something else entirely. Please weigh in with your thoughts. Came from a site that had activity from mid 1700s to present. South central Virginia.

 

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[dz302]

Hi and nice find. First impression is usually the best and always a great starting point. When I was a kid there was this little clicking toy that when you pressed your thumb on the domed side and let go it would click loudly popping back. Maybe?

dz

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

NCSUwolf, the closest match for your domed brass disc that I know of is a US Army Unit-ID Collar Disk. Go to the link below and scroll down to "Type 5 Disks" from the World War 2 era.

During that time, materials-shortages caused several modifications and materials-saving innovations. On some wartime disks, a metal bar running across the inside of the disc held two pins for "clutch-fastener" connectors. The bar on yours shows a gray solder spot which may have held the two pins, which are now missing.

I cannot see any unit-ID logo or other markings on the front of your find. Perhaps the unit-ID logo was made separately and soldered onto the disk's front. Or, perhaps the markings were lightly stamped, and gradually got worn away from long usage (and multi-polishing of the Military Insignia brass disc).

As I said at the start, this ID is the closest match to your domed brass disk that I know of. But as I've said many times during my 18 years in the What-Is-It? forum, I am NOT one of those guys who thinks he has already seen everything there is to see, and already knows everything there is to know. I could be wrong about the ID of your disc. But it does look darn close to a WW2-era US Army collar-disc.

Dating Metallic Insignia: Collar Disks

The evolution of U.S. Army Enlisted Collar Disk Insignia

hglanham.tripod.com

 

[ncsuwolf]

NCSUwolf, the closest match for your domed brass disc that I know of is a US Army Unit-ID Collar Disk. Go to the link below and scroll down to "Type 5 Disks" from the World War 2 era.

During that time, materials-shortages caused several modifications and materials-saving innovations. On some wartime disks, a metal bar running across the inside of the disc held two pins for "clutch-fastener" connectors. The bar on yours shows a gray solder spot which may have held the two pins, which are now missing.

I cannot see any unit-ID logo or other markings on the front of your find. Perhaps the unit-ID logo was made separately and soldered onto the disk's front. Or, perhaps the markings were lightly stamped, and gradually got worn away from long usage (and multi-polishing of the Military Insignia brass disc).

As I said at the start, this ID is the closest match to your domed brass disk that I know of. But as I've said many times during my 18 years in the What-Is-It? forum, I am NOT one of those guys who thinks he has already seen everything there is to see, and already knows everything there is to know. I could be wrong about the ID of your disc. But it does look darn close to a WW2-era US Army collar-disc.

Dating Metallic Insignia: Collar Disks

The evolution of U.S. Army Enlisted Collar Disk Insignia

hglanham.tripod.com

Thank you for the response and insight. I too noticed the solder spot on the back of the item. The lack of any marking/id on the front is what brought horse tack to mind, but your suggestion is a possibility. Any potential it could be a first cousin of the military pins, but for civilian usage?

 

[Gare]

My vote is button

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Ncsuwolf said:
> The lack of any marking/id on the front is what brought horse tack to mind, but your suggestion is a possibility.

Your reply that there definitely is no marking or ID on the front cancels my hope that there was a logo or emblem soldered to the front, and thus your domed brass disk is not a Military collar-insignia disk.

> Any potential it could be a first cousin of the military pins, but for civilian usage?

Yes. The "material-saving innovations" developed for brass Military insignia during World War 2 certainly would have been retained by various manufacturers, and adapted for making civilian-usage objects.

I've never seen the plank-like sheetbrass "bridge" or bar across the back of a button, with a solder-spot (presumably) for attaching a button's loop/shank. In my opinion, that sheetbrass bridge/bar-with-solder is now the key to identifying the object. Since it's not a collar-insignia disc, "I got nuthin'." Except to say, at this point horse tack is as good a guess as any.

 

[ncsuwolf]

Ncsuwolf said:
> The lack of any marking/id on the front is what brought horse tack to mind, but your suggestion is a possibility.

Your reply that there definitely is no marking or ID on the front cancels my hope that there was a logo or emblem soldered to the front, and thus your domed brass disk is not a Military collar-insignia disk.

> Any potential it could be a first cousin of the military pins, but for civilian usage?

Yes. The "material-saving innovations" developed for brass Military insignia during World War 2 certainly would have been retained by various manufacturers, and adapted for making civilian-usage objects.

I've never seen the plank-like sheetbrass "bridge" or bar across the back of a button, with a solder-spot (presumably) for attaching a button's loop/shank. In my opinion, that sheetbrass bridge/bar-with-solder is now the key to identifying the object. Since it's not a collar-insignia disc, "I got nuthin'." Except to say, at this point horse tack is as good a guess as any.

Thanks anyhow. Took a toothbrush and went back over the front of the item…..still don’t see engraving or solder marks. Think this will go down as “not sure what is is, but it’s the nicest one of them I’ve ever found”

 

[Almy]

I got a chuckle out of your final comment! That would fit some of my finds, too.