Civil war buttons

[GuntherHess]

http://www.relicman.com/buttons/ButtonConGovA1Officers.htm#B5431

This is what you hope it is ...but odds are low[]

 

[tigue710]

my heart jumped for a minute... mine is brass or copper, no gold, the eagle has a shield but no letters in the shilds crest. The wings are spread open and the the legs are srait out. It has the arrows on the left and the olive branch on the right... more stars also, 22 to be exact. Alabama became the 22nd state in 1819, not sure if this relates to the stars or not...

it is also pitted with a few small pin prick holes, but still retains all its detail.

the back says "brothers" thats all can make out...

 

[tigue710]

1

 

[tigue710]

2

 

[tigue710]

file to large for the non inverted image of the back, this ought to do alone though...

 

[cc6pack]

Matt

You have a General Staff Officers button, it does have gilt on it it's under the green stuff. This style button was used from 1832 until 1902. The back is Horstmann Brothers & Co/Phil.

I'll need a little more info to narrow it down better. BTW the arrows are in the eagles right talon and the olive branch in the left talon, and is facing right.

How many arrows are in the eagles talon? and the number of stars is critical, there's anywhere from 21 to 30. I know you said 22 but the only button I could find with 22 had Brothers abbreviated as Bro.

There are 24 variations of Staff button mainly with the number of stars, 3 or 4 arrows, and differences in the shape of the shield, and eagle. Nice pics

 

[GuntherHess]

Horstmann was one of the biggest button makers in the US.
Thier backmarks are pretty well documented.
I think it is close to this one...
http://www.relicman.com/buttons/imagesbuttons/B5346A.JPG
http://www.relicman.com/buttons/imagesbuttons/B5346B.JPG
It may be a post war button depending on what you read.
I dont think the number of stars is really significant.
Definately a federal staff button (my lucky first guess[])

 

[tigue710]

Thanks matt, the light was not good but the photos came our alright... All about the Cannon cameras with macro zoom...

I checked and checked again and there are 22 stars for sure, four arrows, and brothers is spelt out...

the context the button was found in would date between 1830 and 1850, although being a surface dump there is a chance it was mixed in at a later date...

it is very close to the button you found but the arrows are bunch more tightly together, two over two sort of... less stars of course, the shield is also tigher and I believe the button to be slightly smaller and the dome more rounded...

 

[GuntherHess]

the button to be slightly smaller and the dome more rounded

Your is probably a cuff, they tend to be high domed. They are the smallest buttons and probably explains the fewer stars than on the tunic or overcoat buttons.

 

[cc6pack]

Matt

All the General Staff buttons are high dome, if you noticed the shield in Gunthers post is pointed at the top of the shield. Yours from what I can see is straight across? This is one of the small differences between manufacturers, different molds etc. Gunthers is listed as GS18 in Alberts book. Horstmann had different back marks as well, some of them are Horstmann & Co. Phil/NY, Horstmann Sons & Drucker/ New York, W.H. Horstmann /Philadelphia, to name some of them.

The button should measure about 20mm