Need some help with a button

[DCMatt]

I found a button in the front yard of a house in northern Virginia. The house was built in 1911. Owned and lived in by the same family until recently.

The button is brass and about the size of a quarter. It was at 4 - 5 inches and has the emblem of the Republic of France. The puzzling part is the instead of the initials "RF" (Republic of France) it has "JIE" or "JTE".

Sorry, I couldn't get good pics of the button.

I know this emblem was officially adopted (with RF initials) by France in 1953, but was also used by the French Foreign Ministry since 1912.

To my knowledge, the people who lived in the house had no connection to the US or French diplomatic corps.

Can someone tell me what "JIE" or "JTE" might mean?

DCMatt

 

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[PBK]

Similar buttons have been reported by other TNet members, including

Detector77: http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,19268.msg124735.html#msg124735





MXT_UP: http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,11008.msg78547.html#msg78547

 

[DCMatt]

Yep. That's my button.

Looks like a button manufacturer copied the French emblem. It does make a nice looking button.

So, I would conclude... common civilian coat button early to mid 20th century. Maybe a little older, but no significance to the design.

Or... there was a French ambassador who visited Virginia, Illinois, and Alabama and eventually he couldn't button his coat. :P

Thanks for the help.

DCMatt

 

[PBK]

I'm inclined to agree: 20th century blazer button modeled on the Republique Francaise arms.

With several reported on this forum alone, and no published attribution for it (as far as I know) as there would likely be for an actual uniform button, I'd say "blazer" seems to be the best guess.