Last Couple of Hunts, Military Button?

[William-NM]

Got back out to the creek for a couple hours Thursday and hit a baseball & soccer field yesterday. My favorite find was the military button - haven't researched it yet - appreciate hearing from any button meisters out there! (also, should it be cleaned to see if there's writing on the back? How?). Found the button and a heavy bronze or brass tent guy line tightener (I think), clock works, etc. along the creek.

I was doing well on the baseball outfield, found three doubles in a row, 2 quarters stacked perfectly on top of each other, about 20' later, 2 dimes, same arrangement, then another 20', another quarter stack. Wish my batting average was that high. Then the kids showed up for practice, so I started on the Soccer field - just a few pieces of clad and the little religious pendant so far, but I've only done a small fraction of it so far.
Best of luck in your hunts to all!

 

[mickfin]

Nice Button N stuff, Like the BIC, Mickfin

 

[INVASCdigger]

Got back out to the creek for a couple hours Thursday and hit a baseball & soccer field yesterday. My favorite find was the military button - haven't researched it yet - appreciate hearing from any button meisters out there! (also, should it be cleaned to see if there's writing on the back? How?). Found the button and a heavy bronze or brass tent guy line tightener (I think), clock works, etc. along the creek.

Hi William,

Your button appears to be a General Service 2 piece, known as the Great Seal Button - 1902 design, Alphaeus Albert's Record of American Uniform and Historical Buttons Bicentennial Edition book...variety GI 102 to 110. As for recommendations on cleaning it, there's a good article in the current February 2012 issue of Western & Eastern Treasures written by William Plummer called "Button Cleaning & Preservation". If you have access to that article, it is very good. Western & Eastern Treasures often posts articles on their website, so I'd look there, too. Years ago, I used to clean my Civil War buttons with a mixture of lemon juice (Real Lemon concentrate works well) and water. I used a ratio of 50% lemon juice and 50 % water. The lemon juice can be pretty powerful, so I'd only leave it in for a few minutes, then remove it and rinse well with water and lightly brush with a soft brush, repeating the process until you are satisfied with the results. Use caution, though. You must remove all traces of the lemon juice or it will continue to etch into the button and damage it. After cleaning, I'd suggest soaking in distilled water for an hour, then change the water, and soak again in fresh distilled for another hour. Buttons can be pretty fragile, so you can't be too careful. The lemon juice will bring out any gold gilt that might be on the button, changing it from an Ugly Duckling into a Swan!

 

[William-NM]

Hi INVASCdigger,
Thank you very much for the detailed reply!! It would have taken me quite a while to track down all that info.
I really appreciate your willingness to share your knowledge.
William

 

[INVASCdigger]

Hi INVASCdigger,
Thank you very much for the detailed reply!! It would have taken me quite a while to track down all that info.
I really appreciate your willingness to share your knowledge.
William

Glad that I could help. HH!

 

[INVASCdigger]

Hi INVASCdigger,
Thank you very much for the detailed reply!! It would have taken me quite a while to track down all that info.
I really appreciate your willingness to share your knowledge.
William

I just looked at the Western & Eastern Treasures website, and they're using William Plummer's button cleaning article as one of the online articles of the month. It's well worth reading. Here's the site.....http://www.treasurenet.com/westeast/

 

[William-NM]

Wow, I learned some new tricks today! Thanks for the link, I'm off to the store for some toothpicks! (And maybe a quick hunt along the way)
I really appreciate the help, that's my first military button.
William

 

[INVASCdigger]

Wow, I learned some new tricks today! Thanks for the link, I'm off to the store for some toothpicks! (And maybe a quick hunt along the way)
I really appreciate the help, that's my first military button.
William

Post some pictures for us when you get it cleaned.