Should Be An Easy One

[callicles]

Hey guys,

My brother found this 3 piece button on private property in Vicksburg, MS. We're not too knowledgeable about Civil War buttons outside the more normal ones. I think it's a staff button, but would like to know what or which rank it represents. Would any officer have this style button or was it usually restricted to certain ranks? Thanks

 

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[TheCannonballGuy]

That split-open 3-piece button was issued to the "Staff grade" ranks of US army officers, which is why it is known to button collectors (and button-book authors like Alphaeus H. Albert, and Warren Tice) as a Staff button. Staff officers are "mid-level" officers, which (I think) meant Major through Colonel. If I'm rembering the Staff ranks incorrectly, I'm sure a couple of the actual Army Veterans here will correct me, and I will say thank-you to them. I'm pretty sure Generals also wear them, based on photos of civil war Generals in uniform.

You're already familiar with the CivilWar/IndianWars era "eagle-&-letter" buttons, such as eagle-I, eagle-A, etc. Those were worn by lower-level officers, such as First and Second Lieutenants, and Captains, and (maybe) Majors.

 

[callicles]

As always, thanks TheCannonBallGuy! This may be a very ignorant question, but are there reputable people out there who restore buttons like people who restore dug/damaged buckles? If there are, Is it advisable to have such work done, or would such work, regardless of work quality, ruin its value?

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Yes, there are at least a couple of highly skilled guys who do repair/"restoration" work on damaged dug-up buttons, and other dug relics, such as insignia and buckles. One goes by the handle "RoFro" on the mytreasurespot.com website. His real-life name is Roland Frodeigh, though i've probably mispelled his last-name. The other guy is known as "The Button Doctor" and he lives somewhere in Central Virginia, but I no longer know how to contact him. The folks at the North/South Trader Civil War magazine might know his contact-info.

As to the advisability of having such work done, that's mostly up to the relic's finder. Nowadays a great many diggers prefer to keep their finds rather than sell them. If you're going to keep it, who cares what anybody else thinks?

"Ruin the value"? No... repair (or as some people prefer to call it, "restoration") of a damaged relic never hurts its value. But of course, you must also take into account the cost of the repair-work.

My own personal opinion... in the majority of cases, I prefer to leave the damage as-is. But I can see how some cases, such as a spectacularly rare/valuable relic, would just beg for a high-quality repair job.