Antique and Vintage Military Buttons

Buttons sewn to military uniforms and worn during conflicts are among of the most popular areas of military-related collecting. In the United States, buttons from the Civil War are especially sought after, and are often described as being "dug" and or "non dug," depending on whether or not they have been excavated. That, however, does not mean that a tarnished button is evidence of authenticity. Many unscrupulous militaria dealers simply bury new buttons—many stamped from the same dies used in the 1860s—for a season or two to give them the patina of age. These new buttons exist to serve a marketplace composed of Civil War reenactors. Deciding how to narrow your collection of antique Civil War buttons is not as simple as choosing between Union and Confederate. There were also state-issued buttons on both sides of the conflict, from New York, Maine, and Vermont in the north to Georgia, Kentucky, and South Carolina in the south. Buttons also designated whether the wearer was in the infantry or cavalry, a rifleman or a staff officer. In addition, Civil War buttons often featured the names of their manufacturer, such as Scoville, Horstmann, or Hyde & Goodrich. While most of these buttons were made in North America, some were produced in England, such as those bearing the name of Van Wart & Son, London. Military buttons worn by troops and officers during World War I and World War II are also widely collected, whereas the trend is less prevalent among collectors of vintage Korean and Vietnam War items. Those wars are recent enough that it is less difficult to find the garments that went with the buttons. And besides, there were simply fewer buttons produced during those wars, owing to the ubiquity of zippers after World War I.