🔎 UNIDENTIFIED Metal Button ID Assistance

[Cherylay]

Hi Everyone, I found this button in with a box of sewing items I got from an EsTate Sale. I enjoy researching but I can’t find out anything about this. It’s plain brass on the top, & measures 13/16”. The back has a shank similar to a birdcage. There are 3 small stars on one end with a curved line underneath them. On the other side are the words SIN RIVAL. My first thought was military because of the look and the stars but that was a dead end for me. I will appreciate any assistance.

 

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[ironhorse]

Very best chance that your button is French
..the birdcage shank is a telltale sign
It's a nice one too for being possibly a couple of hundred years old!

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Your brass button's backmark and its shank/loop tell us it was made in France, and sometime in the 20th-Century, most likely in the first 1/3rd. (I've seen many WW1 French Military buttons with this distinctly French "birdcage" wire shank, but none from the WW2 era, just 25 years later.) The French-language backmark saying "Sin Rival" translates to (more-or-less) "Without a Rival." The backmark is written in what is called Plain Block lettering style, which was almost never used in button backmarks until the late-1890s. Plain Block backmarks became the standard form in the early 20th-Century.

After-posting edit:
Ironhorse's answer to your post arrived while I was researching and typing my answer. His answer is correct, BTW.

 

[Red-Coat]

Agree it's French and likely late very late 1800s-early 1900s. The "Sin Rival" (without rival) generic backmark is actually in Latin, not French. The French equivalent would be "Sans Rival".

 

[Mackaydon]

"Sin Rival" also means without rival in Spanish.
Don in SoCal.

 

[Cherylay]

You are all amazing. Thank you. I just learned a lot. I appreciate all of you taking the time to respond. Cheryl