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button id

J

jmccanless

New member
I recently found a 2 piece button that has a 22 mm diameter and a superior quality back mark. The front of the button is flat (rather than rounded) and contains a 5 string lyre with no writing. I have found nothing like it on the Internet. My digital camera is broke thus I have no pictures. Sorry. Does anyone have any idea of what I might have.
 
Not being able to see it I can't say for sure but sounds like it could be Irish Volunteer. If so it's a great find. Good luck.
Jerry
 
I would really like to see this button. See if you can borrow a camera and take a photo of it. Meanwhile, I'll try to dig out some of my reference books, been doing some remodeling and the wife has them packed up somewhere, and see if I can find something. You just might have a really good one.
Jerry
 
I found this one. You can also see it at his link..

http://pages.pumpkinsandpeacockfeathers.com/7273/PictPage/1921779776.html?mall=%2Fstores%2Fpandpf&itemKey=1921779776&store=%2Fstores%2Fpandpf&catId=Vintage_Sewing-Buttons&itemNo=bf171

What type of site did you find it at? I.e house site, camp site ect.
[attachment 15685 bf171a.jpg]
 
I finally located my button book and from your description it isn't what I thought it might be. For some reason I was thinking of the Irish Jasper Greens but those show a harp and have lettering. But the post and photo by SGTLOWE looks pretty promising. Good luck.
Jerry
 
Sorry I haven't replied I have been away from a computer for a while. The button was found on a hill with a great overlook in the North Georgia area. There is an old cabin on the site but it post dates the war. To answer your question the lyre is similar but less ornate. The button face is flat also as opposed to the rounded face on the button shown. I am working on getting a neighbors digital camera and will try to post the front and back of the button. I also entered this question on a civil war listserve and was told this button was just a civilian band button. Not sure but a small caliber round ball was also found at the site as well as a very plain iron buckle.
 
Thinkin2 [Jerry] wrote:
"Not being able to see it I can't say for sure but sounds like it could be Irish Volunteer. If so it's a great find. Good luck. "

I sincerely hope I'm not sounding like Mr-Know-It-All with this, but... the Irish Volunteers buttons show a harp, not a lyre.
A harp looks basically like a letter V turned sideways, a lyre looks like an upright letter U.
A lyre is the emblem on a Musicians' button. Check Albert's button-book for photos of Musicians buttons and the Irish Volunteers buttons. (For example, the "Irish Volunteers of Charleston" button ...and also the flag of the Irish Brigade, showing a harp.)
Regards,
TheCannonballGuy {Pete George]
 
It is an early Musician's button. Most likely foreign in manufacture and dating 1820-30. Could have belonged to an immigrant that belonged in a Militia group could be US. Good find, David @ Dixie
 
[quote ThatCannonballGuy]Thinkin2 [Jerry] wrote:
"Not being able to see it I can't say for sure but sounds like it could be Irish Volunteer. If so it's a great find. Good luck. "

I sincerely hope I'm not sounding like Mr-Know-It-All with this, but... the Irish Volunteers buttons show a harp, not a lyre.
A harp looks basically like a letter V turned sideways, a lyre looks like an upright letter U.
A lyre is the emblem on a Musicians' button. Check Albert's button-book for photos of Musicians buttons and the Irish Volunteers buttons. (For example, the "Irish Volunteers of Charleston" button ...and also the flag of the Irish Brigade, showing a harp.)
Regards,
TheCannonballGuy {Pete George][/quote]

Hey Pete,
Look at the post I made on 1/20. My first post on the 18th was made without benefit of my book. Due to some remodeling all of my books had been packed and moved. I only gave my view as a possibility at the time based on a very fuzzy recollection of having seen a button similar to his description. Thanks for your correction but I had already done that. My Albert's book shows, on page 495, a Irish Volunteers of Charleston button featuring a shamrock in the center with neither a lyre or a harp so obviously I was way off base with that one. Your expertise, however, is appreciated by all, I'm sure, including me. Have a good one.
Jerry
 
Thinkin2 [Jerry] wrote:
"Look at the post I made on 1/20. My first post on the 18th was made without benefit of my book."

Ahhhhh! I found the 1/20 post. Sorry about that, Jerry. As you know, I'm quite new to this forum - and in particular, new to its formatting. I'm not accustomed to seeing "newest" posts pop up at the TOP of a thread. In every other internet discussion-forums I post in, newest posts show up at the bottom of the thread.

Thank you for your kind words even when I was in error.

By the way... in case any reader here doesn't already know... there's a serious "datiing" problem with Musician buttons ...because the same Lyre emblem is STILL being used for them. Somewhere in my attic is a high-school Band jacket, with 1960s brass Musician buttons on it. Their faces look EXACTLY like the button photo in this thread. [heavy sigh] Ya really gotta know Backmarks well - and "postwar" button-forms.
Regards,
TheCannonballGuy [Pete George]
 
No problem, Pete. We've all probably made posts without reading every one before, at least I know I have. For others of you reading this, I will strongly back up what TCG said. As for backmarks, a great book is "American Military Button Makers and Dealers; Their Backmarks & Dates" by William F. McGuinn and Bruce S. Bazelon. The backmark is probably one of the most important ways to date a button. For those who really search for buttons I think it is a "must have" addition to your library. An example of this is a "Charleston Police" button that I dug some years ago. I, as did others, thought at the time that it was a Civil War period button and I was excited because it was in great shape. On proper identification of the backmark, however, I discovered that the button was post Civil War. I did find one later that was period but was in terrible condition. Pete, if I've made an error here, by all means correct it. I will be grateful, not offended, and all of us will have learned something that might make a huge difference at some point in our collecting.
BTW, it appears we are about the same age. Ah, the early 60's. What a great time to be coming of age. Have a good one.
Jerry
 
Stil no luck with the camera, but I will be at the Dalton civil war show this weekend and plan on bringing the button with me. Will anyone be there? If so let me know where you or your booth will be and I will bring it by.
 
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