Picked up some buttons at a flea market.

[VERMONTPACKRAT]

Saturday morning my wife and I went to a once a year, local flea market. We got there early so the pickin' was good. Among other things, I bought some buttons.

The first two pics, front/back, $1 each.
Next two pics, front/back, $20 for the lot.

Closeup pics, I would like to know a little more about these. The Artillery button has a T W & W , PARIS. back mark. Turns out to be, TRELON WELDON & WEILL, PARIS. 1814-1865. Russa??
The next button looks like a cuff size two piece, MAINE , state seal. G. W. SIMMONS & SON, BOSTON. The age is in question on this one

Thanks for any help, VPR

 

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[TheCannonballGuy]

The flaming-bomb button is French Artillery. Its "T.W. & W. / Paris / Brevete" (with anchor and flaming-bomb) backmark was in use from 1845 to 1902. The word "Brevete" is French for Patent[ed].

The 3-piece button is a cuff-size Maine State Seal, for that state's militia officers. its backmark dates it to the year 1881 (only).

The backmark dating info I've given for both buttons is from the McGuinn-&-Bazelon book on backmarks, "American Military Button Makers and Dealers; Their Backmarks & Dates."

 

[creeper71]

I was almost sure that one was a state seal that is why I suggested to post on this forum Packrat

 

[diggummup]

Good ID CannonballGuy. Nice buttons, you did alright.

 

[VERMONTPACKRAT]

The flaming-bomb button is French Artillery. Its "T.W. & W. / Paris / Brevete" (with anchor and flaming-bomb) backmark was in use from 1845 to 1902. The word "Brevete" is French for Patent[ed].

The 3-piece button is a cuff-size Maine State Seal, for that state's militia officers. its backmark dates it to the year 1881 (only).

The backmark dating info I've given for both buttons is from the McGuinn-&-Bazelon book on backmarks, "American Military Button Makers and Dealers; Their Backmarks & Dates."

Thank You for the info

What I like about these buttons is that we all dig these flat buttons and it is really cool to see them in un-dug condition.


VPR

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Although I said in my previous reply that TW&W backmarks date from 1845-to-1902... I should mention that some top-level button experts doubt that the TW&W-with-anchor-&-flaming-bomb backmark is pre-1865 ....because no buttons with that backmark are known to have been excavated from American Civil War sites. (Check a hard-to-find book by Warren Tice titled "Dating Buttons.") Therefore, I myself would not pay "big bucks" for a TW&W button with the anchor-&-flaming-bomb in the backmark. Let me publicly express my thanks to Don-in-SJ for sending me a heads-up about Tice's "Dating Buttons" book. I'd seen a reference to it somewhere on the internet previously, but I've never seen one for sale. I do own a copy of Tice's "Civil War Buttons" book, as all collectors and diggers of civil war buttons should.