Mystery Button...Military?

[romeo-1]

Two piece but the back is gone. Would have been a Scoville by what I have been able to find online. Several examples of this button online but no positive ID. Thanks for looking!

 

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[smokeythecat]

That looks like a 1850's to 1880's school button. I'll see if I can find my book. It's here somewhere.

 

[fyrffytr1]

I couldn't find it in Alberts book but may have overlooked it. A brief look on the internet brought up this link which lists a "Simons and Son/Boston" backmark but doesn't give any info on the button. When I looked up Simons and son in McGuinn and Bazelon's book there was no listing for it, but there was a Simmons and Son/Boston so there may be a typo on the link or in the book. I still haven't found any info on the button but will keep looking.

Brass Capped Uniform Buttons

 

[Bramblefind]

I think it might be "High School Battalion" and meant to be used as a general purpose button by high school drill teams circa late 1800s or so. There seem to be a number of different High School Battalions in the Boston area around that time.

There is an interesting excerpt where the Boston School Regiment calls the buttons counterfeits - they do look a lot like the BSR buttons.

Here's one of the BSR buttons by the same make fyrffytr found -

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Boston-Sch...n-Button-G-W-Simmons-Sons-1870s-/122798752327

And the quote-

https://archive.org/stream/latinschoolregis1881bost/latinschoolregis1881bost_djvu.txt

We have lately had our attention called to the
fact that an unprincipled dealer has counterfeited
our “ B. S. R.” uniform button, and has attempted
to sell the spurious article to some of our officers
and privates. From a short distance the buttons
cannot be told apart, though the imitation has
“ H. S. B.” instead of “ B. S. R.” as a monogram ;
but on close examination it will be seen that our
regiment button is a much better article. We
would warn members of the regiment against pur-
chasing the “H. S. B.” buttons. Our “ B. S. R.”
button was submitted to and accepted by the Com-
mittee on Military Drill in 1875, and was patented
by Mr. Farrell at that time. It is the only proper
button for the regiment to wear.

And here's something about HSB meaning High School Battalion on school caps --

https://books.google.com/books?id=V...ge&q="h.s.b." "high school battalion"&f=false

The first high school boys who wore these caps had upon the front of them In Roman letters the initials HSB for High School Battalion and as a consequence they were known when they went abroad as home sick babies

 

[Bramblefind]

Now after writing that all out I am doubting it a little since I think the letters are in the wrong order for High School Battalion.

I'll leave the post up though just in case.

 

[romeo-1]

Thanks everyone! We've managed to find many examples of the exact button online but none positively identified. The orientation would appear to be HBS...

 

[fyrffytr1]

I know it doesn't identify the button but I forgot to add that the Simmons & Son/Boston backmark was used in 1881 only.