Three-legged Eagle Button

[PBK]

Yesterday, in another thread, I stated that I believe buttons like the one shown below to be of modern origin, while noting that in the past others have suggested that they are Hessian buttons from the Revolutionary War.

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As a result, I have received a number of PM's and e-mails— some questioning my comments, and others supporting them. I hope that the following information will prove interesting and helpful to those who have found such buttons. (Several have previously been posted here on TNet.)

• I can find no evidence that buttons of this design were in use during the Revolutionary War. Despite the fact that they have repeatedly been found, no such button appears either in Don Troiani's book Military Buttons of the American Revolution, or in the definitive earlier work, Calver & Bolton's History Written with Pick and Shovel.

• All of the examples I've seen are two-piece buttons (some with the tinned back rusted out or missing) of a type not in use during the Revolutionary War.

• These buttons are readily obtainable at low prices today— unlike any authentic Revoutionary War buttons that I'm aware of. I found one on eBay, a lot of four for $5 on Ruby Lane, and a set of 11 (four coat, one pocket, six cuff) for $9.99 from another seller. Here are the links:

http://wolfden.ecrater.com/product.php?pid=962249
http://www.rubylane.com/shops/twinkler/item/091025
http://cgi.ebay.com/Estate-sale-find-Copper-button-Teutonic-Eagle_W0QQitemZ160139602908

• Buttons of the same design are still offered, in 25 different finishes, as "fashion buttons" by the Waterbury Button Company. (They are not described as reproductions of historical buttons.)

http://www.waterburybutton.com/user-cgi/patterns.cgi?catg=Fashion&subcatg=Fashion&page=4&id=9837

 

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[Gypsy Heart]

Great work PBK
I found these articles interesting.......

...........Large contingents of German troops, commonly lumped together under the term "Hessians," were hired by the British during the Revolution to fight in North America. The army force maintained here by the King comprised 35% of the Hessians drawn mainly from the principalities of Hesse Cassel, Brunswick, Hesse Hanau, Waldeck, and other smaller German states.

Buttons from all of these regiments were plain, and without any sort of unit designation. Flat-faced with a very pronounced boss on the backs, into which an iron-wire eye was anchored, these buttons originally were made of tombac (copper/zink alloy), or thin brass, depending on the color of the regiments' metal.

Sources: A Guide to Artifacts of Colonial America by Ivor Noel Hume, Military Buttons of the American Revolution by Don Troiani, Collector's Illustrated Encyclopedia of the American Revolution by George C. Neumann and Frank J. Kravic.

http://metaldetectingworld.com/buttons.shtml

 

[PBK]

Thanks for the additional info, GH!

 

[CRUSADER]

Great work PBK
I found these articles interesting.......

...........Large contingents of German troops, commonly lumped together under the term "Hessians," were hired by the British during the Revolution to fight in North America. The army force maintained here by the King comprised 35% of the Hessians drawn mainly from the principalities of Hesse Cassel, Brunswick, Hesse Hanau, Waldeck, and other smaller German states.

Buttons from all of these regiments were plain, and without any sort of unit designation. Flat-faced with a very pronounced boss on the backs, into which an iron-wire eye was anchored, these buttons originally were made of tombac (copper/zink alloy), or thin brass, depending on the color of the regiments' metal.

Sources: A Guide to Artifacts of Colonial America by Ivor Noel Hume, Military Buttons of the American Revolution by Don Troiani, Collector's Illustrated Encyclopedia of the American Revolution by George C. Neumann and Frank J. Kravic.

http://metaldetectingworld.com/buttons.shtml

These are the most common button found in the UK. Pewter or Tombac varieties of different sizes. I have found thousands of them. Don't even bother keeping any.

 

[PBK]

These are the most common button found in the UK. Pewter or Tombac varieties of different sizes. I have found thousands of them. Don't even bother keeping any.

You're referring to the group of buttons posted above by Gypsy, not the button shown at the beginning of this thread, right?

I've never seen the three-legged eagle buttons in pewter or tombac, and that would be an interesting addition to the info mix.

 

[CRUSADER]

These are the most common button found in the UK. Pewter or Tombac varieties of different sizes. I have found thousands of them. Don't even bother keeping any.

You're referring to the group of buttons posted above by Gypsy, not the button shown at the beginning of this thread, right?

I've never seen the three-legged eagle buttons in pewter or tombac, and that would be an interesting addition to the info mix.

As I quoted Gypsy - yes. Never seen the 3 legged bird button before

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

Chernobyl Grenadiers.

 

[Montana Jim]

Chernobyl Grenadiers.

Good information PBK - Thanks.

 

[PBK]

Chernobyl Grenadiers.

Not sure how to "react" to that one!

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

YES! I got one up on PBK!!!!!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ESTATE-JEWELRY-...ryZ31729QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQcmdZViewItem

Sweater clasp on ebaY

"God Is Our Hope" (translation)

Two buttons in upper right corner - found in school lot

http://www.rubylane.com/shops/twinkler/item/091025 Set of four - $5 at antique shop (can't copy image)

Certainly not AWI era (American War of Independence )

 

[PBK]

Ah, yes... The Cardigan Guard again!


(BTW, see link #2 in my original post.)

 

[dg39]

Why three legged eagle? I see two legs and a tail with four feathers on it.

DG

 

[CRUSADER]

Why three legged eagle? I see two legs and a tail with four feathers on it.

DG

Smartarse

 

[Montana Jim]

Why three legged eagle? I see two legs and a tail with four feathers on it.

DG

Eeeekkk... I do too, now that I actually look at it. :P

 

[PBK]

Our relentless research here on the forum has at last confirmed an 18th century reference to a three-legged eagle:

"I shall now beg leave to pass on to the second strange and portentous Phænomenon which I have just mention’d and proposed to consider; namely, the monstrous great Eagle with three Legs, which was lately caught by a Kentish Shepherd, whilst He was committing the most terrible Ravages on the young Lambs under his care in Romney Marsh." — Editorial 24-28 April 1727, The Craftsman.

Citation: Rictor Norton, Early Eighteenth-Century Newspaper Reports: A Sourcebook, "The Rabbit Woman", 23 November 2001, updated 1 January 2006 <http://www.infopt.demon.co.uk/grub/rabbit.htm>

Bless the beasts, etc.

 

[dg39]

Early Mutant?

 

[BuckleBoy]

I used to play in my mother's button jar as a kid, and there were at least 5 or 6 of this exact type of button in there. Some of them were still shiny, but I like to play with them because they looked old. And they had writing on them that I didn't understand. Anyhow, those were two piece buttons. They were very light in weight and looked cheaply made. Naturally when I found the first one MDing a few years ago and saw the rusted lump for the back, I pitched it. And I'll never think twice about it. (I found it on a site that was only about 80 years old, and the button itself was shallow in the yard.)

Thanks for your great work on this one, PBK!

Buckleboy

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

Romney Marsh

Isn't that where Dr. Syn hung out? Any of you old Mousekateers remember The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh?

As far as it being a Hessian button I can't find any reference to a specific style. Each unit was outfitted by the regent who rented them to the British. There is evidence Latin was understood.

During the Scots Rebellion an 1745, many German (including Hessian) units were hired to fight for England. Since the commanders did not speak each other's language, they communicated by using a common language, French for the English officers and Latin with the Edinburgh middle class. http://baronesshessian.tripod.com/hesshistory2.html

I found references to cast pewter buttons found in Hessian campsites in NY.

http://metaldetectingworld.com/05_p...ges/Rev War Period Hessian Pewter Buttons.htm

Nothing at all like the multi-piece stamped button with the eagle.

If you really want an exhaustive list that might prove insightful to the Hesse-Hanau and Hesse-Kassel regiments that were in the US (some 30,000 troops) here a a site with references.

http://www.geocities.com/hessians1776/