 Confederate Adjutant General button |
The Civil War Relicman,
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Winchester, Virginia
USA (changed hands 70 times in the Civil War!)
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This page updated May 14, 2008 |
Catalog of button
backmarks
Backmarks "Extra Quality"
"Extra Quality" backmarks were generic stock backmarks or tradename backmarks denoting quality. There are many variations of this backmark, uncertainty as to who the actual producers were of some of them, so all are listed here.
Most information on this page is from Tice's book, Dating Buttons..., the pictures are generally from buttons that I have handled.
ExtraQ01 (22mm)
Backmark: "EXTRA / * QUALITY * " dm small letters between one outer
ring and two inner rings of
dots,
Scovill produced ca 1860.
Tice page 71 Scovill Manufacturing item count 58 [B7-10] with modification.
Examples with this backmark:
Back pictured is from VA20, Virginia staff (B5008).
ExtraQ02 (22mm)
Backmark: "EXTRA / * QUALITY * " dm small letters between rings of
dots, no well for shank, Scovill ca 1860.
Tice page 71 Scovill Manufacturing item count 58, variant.
Examples with this backmark:
Back pictured is from GS, Federal General staff (B5018).
ExtraQ02 North Carolina variant (22mm)
Backmark: "EXTRA / * QUALITY * " dm small letters between rings of
dots, no well for shank, Scovill ca 1860.
This is not truly a "variant" but is photographed because of the
unusual sloppy assemblage that is noted on all of the North Carolina buttons
bearing this mark. It suggests that Scovill may have
"reassembled" them, or they could have been smuggled or there could be
a different explanation.
Examples with this backmark:
Back pictured is from NC2, North Carolina
staff (B4987).
ExtraQ03 (22mm)
Backmark: "EXTRA / * QUALITY. * " dm large letters between solid
rings,
Scovill produced ca 1860.
Tice page 71 Scovill Manufacturing item count 58 [B7-11]
Examples with this backmark:
Back pictured is from MS35, Massachusetts staff (B4959)
ExtraQ04As (15mm)
Backmark: "EXTRA / * QUALITY * " dm inner solid ring, letters are not
evenly spaced, used for small button only, ca 1860 (ExtraQ04As)
Note there appears to be a second inner ring on some examples, this ring is very
uneven and may be a scratch from the machinery during crimping or shanking. The
example on the left (Kentucky) shows this inner ring, whereas the example on the
right (Texas) only shows fragments of a ring, in any case the ring is very
uneven at best.
Tice not listed
Examples with this backmark:
B4697
Kentucky state seal, officer staff button (15mm)
Ref: Albert KY1 not listed, Tice KY200Uncl2
TX20, Texas state seal staff button (B5325)
ExtraQ05As (15mm)
Backmark: "EXTRA / * QUALITY * " dm, very sloppy
die from Steele & Johnson ca 1860
Tice page 87 Steele & Johnson, item count 21 [B10-17]
Examples with this backmark:
Back pictured is from VA14, Virginia state seal button (B5073)
ExtraQ06
(23mm)
Backmark: "EXTRA / * QUALITY * " dm, inner ring of vertical
hyphens, a dot after Quality is not present but may have been obscured by die
debris. Likely a product of Steele & Johnson ca 1860's, and could be
transitional.
Tice page 87 Steele & Johnson,
not listed
Examples with this backmark:
Two buttons, B5094 and B4801 are given the same reference and backmark, but it seems like there are minor differences in the dies. Alternately the differences could be the strength of the strike or wear on the die. Both buttons as shown likely came from the same factory, probably Steele & Johnson, so are shown as variants of each other.
B5094
Federal Infantry, eagle "I" button (23mm)
Ref: Albert GI89 not listed, Tice GI228A12
B4801
Federal Infantry, eagle "I" button (23mm)
Ref: Albert GI89 not listed, Tice GI228A12
See comments with B5094.
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