A Question about a CW button

[pachaplain]

Hi,

  I know this forum is primarily about ammunition of all sizes, however, I do have a few buttons in my collection which people have given to me. I like any help that anyone can give me regarding a flat button about 3/4 of an inch in diameter and with the words "superfine standard.ic." around the rim of the shank side of the button. I will try to attach a picture to this post. Can anyone tell me who the manufacturer was and if Union or Confederate in use? Any information will be helpful. Thanks!

[Pete George]

  That particular form of 1-piece brass flat-button (with an iimpressed-letters backmark) was manufactured mostly from the very-early 1800s to the mid-1830s, and almost entirely for Civilian usage, not Military.  It rapidly fell out of favor after that time due to the advent of machinery which could produce very ornate 2-piece buttons at an inexpensive price.

  Your 1-piece flat-button's backmark saying :Superfine Standard I.C." indicates it was manufactured in Britain.  The "I.C." could be the abbreviation for Imperial Colour" (referring to the color and quality of the gold gilt on the button) ...or it could be a button-maker's (or dealer's) initials.  Because the McGuinn-&-Bazelon book on button backmarks does not list any button-maker or dealer whose initials are IC, I must interpret them as an abbreviation.

  All of that being said... even though nearly all such buttons were made and sold for Civilian use, we relic-diggers have found significant quantities of them in civil war Military campsites, both yankee and Confederate.  This has caused many Ebay sellers to list them as "Confederate" flat-buttons ...but in actual fact, there is no record of these 1-piece brass flat-buttons being MADE in the South during the civil war.  It's just that they got used by some "needy" Confederate soldiers who were unable to replace a lost Military button with another, so they utilized civilian ones as a replacement.

Regards,
Pete

[pachaplain]

Thanks for the information, Pete.   I assume what you said about the bullet I posted above is also true on this other slightly largely (15/16 of an inch) one piece (including the shank) button I am posting below. P.S. Is there a safe way to remove some of the rust without injuring/destroying the bullet?

[speedenforcer]

Bullet or button?

[pachaplain]

Please excuse my typo. I meant "button." A metal button would rust. A lead bullet would have a patina you would want to keep intact, not rust.

[speedenforcer]

I know, I was being bad.

[Pete George]

  Ohiochaplain, although the buttons in your two photos are both 1-piece buttons, they are not the same type.  The button in your second photo is called a "spun-back" 1-piece.  That type was cast in a mold, and its back then shaped with a lathe.  According to the Tice book on buttons, this type was manufactured from the 1770s to about 1800.  Their metal, which usually has a very smooth grey or silvery appearance even after 200 years in the ground, was a composite alloy such as Britannia Metal (93% tin, 5 % antimony, 2% copper), Tombac (85% copper, 15% zinc), or White Tombac (80% copper with some zinc and arsenic).  Britannia Metal was silvery, and extraordinarily resistant to corrosion, but brittle.  The rust you see on your button did not come from the button itself.  The rust on it is a stain caused by the button having laid against an iron object in the ground, or kept (after digging) in a container where it was exposed to rusty water.  If I owned it, I would use some rust-remover to get rid of the stain.  

Regards,
Pete